July 2020 – Lower Columbia School Gardens Blog

LCSG cares a great deal about the health of our community; it’s a core part of our mission to promote healthy eating, and provide access to fresh produce in Longview and Kelso. We also know that fighting racism is an important way to ensure everyone can thrive.

Pervasive and systemic racism is the reason Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other communities of color suffer disproportionately from completely preventable conditions like chronic diseases, shortened life expectancy, poor birth outcomes, and increased mortality from COVID-19.

Racism is a public health crisis. While our organization can and will continue to grow nutritious and delicious food, we will also work to undo our own implicit biases, and address the racist systems that prevent communities of color from accessing education, employment, safe and affordable housing and healthy food so that they can expect the same quality of life that white communities do.

To learn more, check out this article from Pew Trusts:

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/06/15/racism-is-a-public-health-crisis-say-cities-and-counties

As our team continues to learn and act on what it means to be anti-racist, we feel called to consider the perspective and experiences of Black and Indigenous people and communities, both historically and in present day.

As a staff of white people, most of us have positive and pleasant memories of Fourth of July celebrations. Most of us also did not learn until much later in life that the phrase “all men are created equal” in the Declaration of Independence did not actually mean ALL people. That same well-known document also refers to Indigenous people as “merciless Indian Savages”.

Not until 100 years after that first Independence Day in 1776 were some African American people granted freedom from enslavement. Countless Indigenous people were violently displaced from lands that were their home, or were murdered by those who colonized this continent that some know as North America, but so many still recognize as Turtle Island.

In the midst of a holiday weekend of national celebration, LCSG is committed to meditating on and learning about the many ways our country continues to perpetuate injustice, and the oppression of so many.

We look forward to the day when this nation is a place where all beings can thrive and we want to play an active role in bringing that to life.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/what-american-slave-your-4th-july-frederick-douglass-1852-speech-ncna888736