We Are Already Here

He wanted to apple galettes. Our farmstand only offered strawberry, and I told him so. "But I want apple," he insisted. It could have been a light bantering over fruit, in season or not, yet the exchange felt tense. His next words were the ones that got under my skin.

"You're not from around here, are you." It was a statement. He was a tall, middle-aged White male, with salt-and-pepper hair and a plaid shirt, and he looked me up and down in a way I didn't like. "No, you definitely are not from around here. I mean, obviously." He laughed. "You must be one of those programs, one of those students who visit from the city," he said, as though to remind me who I am.  

The thing was, I already knew exactly who I am. It's true I wasn't from here - here being small town Pescadero, at one of a patchwork of farms lining the windswept coast south of San Francisco. And as an ally to youth, I wouldn't take offense at being mistaken for one myself. What was tired, though, was the underlying questioning of presence I've encountered in spaces that White peers do not. In these small interactions there is a nuance of meaning. As though it's surprising to see a brown girl on an organic farm. 

This questioning goes hand-in-hand with another question I've heard before in the mainstream food movement. Well, where are the people of color? Where are the Asian Pacific Islanders? The Pinoys? Where are the__(fill in the blank)__? How do we get them to join?

The truth is, we are already here. We have been here, tending the soil, defending the land, saving seeds, watering roots, leading campaigns, struggling for the family farm, and bringing in nets of fish. The irony is that so many generations of knowledge, perseverance, leadership, and suffering of folks of color are the foundation of food systems in the United States, yet could ever be unseen or forgotten.

So to the questioning - why are you here? or why aren't you? - I think, "Reflect. Respect. Look again."

More:
Filipino/American Farmworkers and the Watsonville Riots
Brown Girl Farming: highlights the stories of farmers and food leaders of color
The Color of Food: Applied Research Center