A number of people have answered my simple question. How far could you travel when you were a kid?I decided to actually answer this question myself by way of google maps. By walking/bike riding? The farthest I went unsupervised was about 7 miles on foot. And from the comments it sounds like I’m on the short end. Taking the subway from Harlem to Brooklyn (or was it vice-versa) is a lot more than seven miles (though it isn’t on foot).What we lose from this is not only autonomy (and audacity to quote from Craig Nulan), but also a sense of community. Checking out an interview with Grace Lee Boggs on Bill Moyers, as well as reading Keith Owens’ post about the lack of grocery stores in Detroit, helped to crystallize this for me.Keith (responding to the idea that Detroiters need to take the lack of grocery stores as an opportunity to rely on food co-ops and on community gardens):
As for the suggestion that we all get back to the earth and learn to grow our own, I’m afraid that is a ridiculous approach with an absolute ZERO chance of success when it comes to meeting the needs of the masses. And by the way, what are we supposed to do for things like meat? Last timeI checked it wasn’t legal to keep cattle in your backyard, and you damned sure can’t slaughter chickens on your front porch. And don’t even come at me with the vegetarian thing ‘ cause I am not among them and doubt I ever will be. Or is this considered a sacrifice that we lemmings should be happy and willing to make for the sake of ‘independence’?Look, to quote an old R&B song, sometimes I “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” Yeah. I said it. Because we need more stores in this city. Large stores. Chain stores. Stock full with lots and lots of stuff that regular people like me like to buy at one time under one roof. Conveniently. We need these stores to meet the needs of the people who are here, and we need them for the folks we are trying to convince to move here and stay longer than a season before they get tired of driving to the next county in search of REAL STORES.I know times are tough in my beloved city. Honest. I live here, so how could I not know this? But this insane attitude voiced by some that it is better to live like a small war-torn nation so long as we’re not getting any help from anyone, than to live like normal folks with normal amenities, has got to be burned at the stake. Hell, give me the gasoline and I’ll light the fire myself.
Grace (interviewed by Bill Moyers):
GRACE LEE BOGGS: And I see this as part of a pilgrimage which human beings have been embarked on for thousands and tens of thousands of years. It’s– it’s too– you know, people think of evolution mainly in terms of anatomical changes. I think that we have to think of evolution in terms of– very elemental human changes. and so, we’re evolving both through our knowledge and through our experiences to another a stage of human– humankind. So, revolution and evolution are no longer so separate.BILL MOYERS: But the economic system doesn’t reflect this evolution. As– as you just described it, outsourcing of jobs, the flight of capital, the power of capital over workers. All of that has– the system isn’t catching up this.GRACE LEE BOGGS: Well– just– don’t expect the system to catch up, the system is part of the system! (LAUGHTER) What– what I think is that, not since the 30s have American– have the American people, the ordinary Americans faced such uncertainty with regard to the economic system. In the 30s, what we did, was we confronted management and were able, thereby to– gain many advantages, particularly to gain a respect for the dignity of labor. That’s no longer possible today, because of the ability of corporations to fly all over the place and begin setting up– all this outsourcing. So, we’re gonna have – people are finding other ways to regain control over the way they make their living.BILL MOYERS: You know, a lot of young people out there would agree with your analysis. With your diagnosis. And then they will say; What can I do that’s practical? How do I make the difference that Grace Lee Boggs is taking about. What would you be doing?GRACE LEE BOGGS: I would say do something local. Do something real, however, small. And don’t– don’t diss the political things, but understand their limitations.BILL MOYERS: Don’t ‘diss’ them?GRACE LEE BOGGS: Disrespect them.BILL MOYERS: Disrespect them?GRACE LEE BOGGS: Understand their limitations. Politics– there– there was a time when we believed that if we just achieved political power it would solve all our problems. And I think what we learned from experiences of the Russian Revolution, all those revolutions, that those who become– who to get power in the state, become part of the state. They become locked in to the practices. And we have to begin creating new practices.
How do these ideas relate? Now if the Bureau of Justice stats aren’t too far out of whack violent crime rates have actually decreased. (They ARE out of whack…but bear with me.) But fear of crime has. This fear is driven by a combination of media narratives (both non-black and black, both in the popular media and in the news), increases in technology (increased use of cell phones and other surveillance tech, increase in videogames), and decreases in public space (decreased use of public greenspace and public porches, increased reliance on YMCA’s and private clubs). It’s also driven by an increase in mega-shops (walmart as opposed to local hardware stores, grocery chains as opposed to mom and pop stores, borders as opposed to independent book stores).Boggs doesn’t talk about Farmer Jacks at all in her video. But she hits the nail on the head when she talks about local work. I’d like to suggest that local work represents one of the ways we can begin to bring our perceptions more in tune with reality.Keith is right in his call for more grocery stores…if other cities with upwards of 900,000 folks have them, then Detroit damn sure should. But at some point in order to rebuild our sense of community, and in order to begin to think about new ways of living, it seems to me that we should be thinking about new ways to get people to participate in growing our own food. Community gardens have all types of benefits…and generating them would likely get us to realize that the spaces we live in aren’t as unsafe as we think they are. They’d also help us move back to the type of local activism that has proven to be most fruitful for us (no pun intended). Not to mention the health and political benefits. Detroit’s land mass was designed to deal with 2 million people.It now deals with half of that.Should all that empty space be put to good use?
Doc, Sister Boggs see and I agree the problems we face(the country) need a new methodology,a new language,we have to redine terms ,leadership,intelligent,and employment
hope of audacity brah…,
there’s no “should” here, it’s only a question of “who will” put that empty space to use? and if WE don’t ACT with all due alacrity and audacity, be certain that when it IS put back into use – that WE will not enjoy the primary control or benefit that is presently in our grasp – if we would only seize the initiative..,
Hey Lester.
First of all, thanks much for putting my words out there. Much appreciated. Reading back over what I said, I now remember how ticked off I was, which is what made me dash that piece off with all that heat.
No, I’m not retracting what I said at all, but I’m glad to get a chance to emphasize a few things that may have been lost to some in the nager of what I was saying. I am not at all opposed to community gardens, and I am definitely not opposed to self-sufficiency. And the idea of turning some of these vacant lots – and other empty spaces – into productive use is verry appealing and has considerable merit. They say genius is looking at crisiss and visualizing opportunity.
Well, actually that’s what I say, but moving on…
The point is that I would never discourage any effort that is intended to uplift the community, no matter how small. Positive energy is positive energy. But gravity does exist in the real world, and we must, at some point, deal with reality. And the reality, to my way of thinking,is that we must admit our limitations. No amount of community gardens can feed an entire city of this size. To feed and clothe a full-sized urban area, we need full-sized services. And we deserve them.
I could say more, but I’ll quit here for now.
Thanks again, Lester. And by the way, I met your parents on Friday night when my wife and I were leaving River Days. Turns out your mother and my wife taught together at Spain! And your father’s a great, great guy. Really enjoyed talking to him.
Anyway…
Like Dr. Spence, I think the keys to economic renewal in Detroit and elsewhere are autonomy, locality and sustainability. Community gardens could be one part of that. But instead of protesting for grocery stores, how about starting your own co-ops?
here’s a resource you may consider contacting;
The Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt corporation founded in 2004 by two Kansas City farmers dedicated to promoting urban agriculture in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Katherine Kelly (former owner of Full Circle Farm, Kansas City) and Daniel Dermitzel (former co-owner of Trailside Farm in Calhoun, Missouri) were inspired by a common vision of city farming that includes:
* small, community-based farms scattered throughout the metro, providing an abundance of fresh and healthy food to city residents,
* new opportunities for people who would like to farm and generate an income doing so,
* a new kind of urban design that turns unused, vacant and unsightly spaces to productive use and treats small-scale agriculture as an integral part of a beautiful, lively and healthy neighborhood.
To realize this vision, the Center develops training and research programs for new and experienced farmers and for city planners and community members interested in city farming. Additionally, the Center operates the Kansas City Community Farm (KCCF), a working, certified organic vegetable farm where we develop and demonstrate production practices suitable for Midwestern urban agriculture.
Is there any business in the whole world that you would less advise someone you loved to get into than family farming? Farms out in the country, with low labor costs, low land prices, farm subsidies, and surrounding infrastructure to support farmers (like farm co-ops and businesses tuned to their needs) are basically unprofitable. Small family farms pretty much end up being what the farmers do on their off hours, after getting off work as a prison guard or mechanic or Wal-Mart employee. Trying to do better in the middle of a city, with none of those advantages, seems absolutely hopeless to me.
if you think about it as a business…perhaps. but what keith is talking about vis a vis detroit is real. imagine a city with a capacity of 2 million people with not a single grocery store to service its needs. it’d be hard slogging, farming is hard regardless, but even thinking about it as a business it is doable.
but thinking about it as more than a business, as an attempt to get off of the grid, an attempt to build community, an attempt to do something with space that has been disregarded? yes.
the power of community, how Cuba survived Peak Oil…,
The full history of Cuba’s shift to self-sufficiency with emphasis on urban agriculture…,
Peak oil and food security resources