Immigrants are more than hired hands in this country. They are our family. Our neighbors. Our community! They are a part of the fabric that makes our communities whole.
Farmworkers represent the backbone of our food system — tending and harvesting yields that nourish an entire ecosystem — from sea to soil to plate. Yet, increasingly, ICE enforcement is wreaking havoc and spreading fear across our rural communities. News accounts have detailed tactics like separating families, disrupting farms and threatening the people who not only put food on our tables, but who enhance our global human experience, making our lives and communities fuller and more diverse. What is at stake goes far beyond the labor that immigrant communities contribute to our food supply. They bring culture, tradition and enrich our foodways, adding to our rich agricultural and culinary heritage.
This moment calls for solidarity, not silence.
In July, we had the honor of inviting Rachel Armstrong to help us navigate this moment with a video presentation as part of Breaking Bread. As the founder and Executive Director of Farm Commons, Rachel has led hundreds of effective, interactive trainings for thousands of farmers nationwide. Rachel has also authored many publications on farm law, published academic and trade articles for attorneys, and teaches university classes in farm law. She is a graduate of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and the University of Wisconsin Madison and lives in Northern Minnesota (near the farm where she grew up) with her husband and three children. She is licensed to practice law in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Now is the time to turn solidarity to action. As eaters, as food systems practitioners, as farmers — what is in your power to do? Learn your rights and those of your neighbors. Share resources. Support organizers and organizations already doing the hard work. And speak out if you’re able. A thriving, equitable food system includes ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to work and exist with dignity. The future of our food system and our democracy depends on it.
Watch the recording now:
About the Breaking Bread Series
The Highlander Center defines “popular education” as an opportunity to learn from each other’s shared lived experiences to build collective knowledge. Breaking Bread: Lunch and Listen will feature stories that uplifts the shared history of food and farming; organizing and resistance that’s got us to where we are now. We pair that history with work that folks are doing presently, that will inform the future we want for each other as it relates to farming and agriculture, food, culture and rural communities. This storytelling and making our narratives public is a key and critical part of community organizing. Please join us!
