June 2014 Good Food FROM PAGE 7


regional food can contribute to a city’s employment base.


One fiscal argument for augmenting local food networks is to reduce the tremendous costs that fuel and labor add to shipping produce from distant sites, whether in urban areas like Detroit or rural regions of the country such as Alaska.


“In some of our isolated villages in


Alaska, families are having to choose between the price of heating oil and food,” reported Dave Monture, technical assistance specialist for the Intertribal


Agriculture Council. He


said the cost of milk in some areas has risen to $20 a gallon. But Monture said he was encouraged for the future of sustainable


agriculture of youth


and the good food movement by the presence


participants


practices in


attendance scattered among and often mentored by their elders with decades of experience. Still, Monture cautioned that perfecting expertise in community development


initiatives must be


balanced by the holistic awareness of the impact of larger systems on food issues, energy and climate change.


Nations


Monture was born on the Six Reserve,


Ontario mother is from the and his Akwesasne


reservation in New York. A former Director


this winter; of Economic Development


for the Su’naq Tribe of Kodiak, Alaska, he noted that one weather station in the state recorded 97 degrees below Fahrenheit


“the


old-timers in the Aleutians are seeing sea creatures and birds they’ve never


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


seen before” as a result of unstable weather patterns.


Representatives


Native American communities voiced concerns about drought, unpredictable


circumstances


from other also the


nature


sometimes presents – a wandering elk who feasted on vine-ripened crops in New Mexico -- but also about the man-made barriers to sustainable food practices: lack of access to capital and increasing costs associated with food operations.


At the heart of the drive for food


security is the concept of sovereignty. “We are not sovereign if we can't feed ourselves,” tweeted


one attendee,


quoting Janie Simms Hipp of the Chickasaw Nation, who served as senior advisor for tribal affairs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and was the recent director of the USDA Office of Tribal Relations. Last year she co-authored an article on food sovereignty.


“We absolutely must include time to discuss our food insecurity, resiliency of our indigenous food systems, and how to feed the most vulnerable among us in times of crisis,” Hipp wrote. “After all,


it


wasn’t too long ago that starvation was used to force tribes into submission.”


That sentiment was echoed by urban dwellers, intimately aware of their food insecurity and dependence on outside actors.


Malik Yakini, executive director of the network that includes artist/compost


rap manager Sennefer’s


employer, said DBCFSN is planning to open a Detroit food cooperative in 2015. In his view, the need for a co-op emerged from the inferior quality of


The Hampton Roads Messenger 11


foods sold in stores in predominantly African-American


neighborhoods,


the disrespect often shown those same neighborhood residents by store employees, and the outflow of resources that could be better directed toward attaining food security.


Yakini reminded out-of-towners


that, “Detroit is in a serious crisis.” He cited “the imposition of an emergency manager on the city of Detroit by


the governor of the state,” a newly established position “whose powers supersede those of [the city’s] elected officials.”


educating resistance


He said that DBCFSN has been residents


and to this “assault


organizing on


democracy. If it can happen in Detroit, it can happen wherever you live as well,” he warned.


Congressman Scott Reflects on the Passing of Raymond H. Boone, Sr.


NEWPORT NEWS,


VA – Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott issued the following statement


after


learning of the passing of Raymond H. Boone, Sr., the Founder, Editor


and


Publisher of the Richmond Free Press:


"I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Ray Boone. Ray was a pioneer and a fixture in the Virginia Press Corps. The Richmond Free Press, which Ray founded more than 20 years ago, has been an important source of news and information


for


the Richmond


community, often covering issues and stories left unnoticed by larger media organizations.


While he was my


friend, Ray was always a newsman first and never hesitated to hold my feet to the fire on issues important to the Richmond community.


our many interviews and editorial I enjoyed


board meetings and I will miss talking politics and policy with him. I know his legacy will endure through the countless lives he has touched and will continue to touch through the Richmond Free Press. My thoughts and prayers are with Ray's wife, Jean, their children, Regina and Ray Jr., and the staff and many devoted readers of the Richmond Free Press."


757-656-5957


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