Mama Hanifa is one of the founding members of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN). She currently serves as the Education and Outreach Director and Coordinator of the Food Warriors Youth Development Program and the Food N’ Flava Youth Entrepreneurship Program. Mama Hanifa is mother to two biological adult sons, one adult “bonus” son, three-grandsons, and parenting grandmother to 17 year old Na’Kyah; in addition,she is a community Mama to many. All of her children inspire her and continue to give her the purpose to continue to do the work for which she is so passionate.
Written by DFPC Youth Chair Asha McElroy
DBCFSN grew from the seed that was germinated at Nsoroma Institute, a small African-centered Academy in the city of Detroit. DBCFSN’s Executive Director, Malik Yakini was one of the co-founders and served as principal of the school and Mama Hanifa taught at Nsoroma Institute for 12 years. Food security was an integral part of the school’s curriculum. As such, every teacher was required to have at least one lesson a week that focused on some aspect of the food system. Baba Malik, at the time, had a bookstore called the Black Star Community Bookstore which was also a community gathering space. It was in this safe space that we began to have a series of community conversations around the food landscape in the city of Detroit. This was at a time when the major chain grocery stores such as Meijer were leaving the city, with Farmer Jack being the last to make its exit in 2007. The departure of these once stable community food outlets, created a precarious situation as it related to healthy food access in the city. As a community we began to bear witness to the many vulnerabilities caused by the lack of access to healthy food options due to lack of transportation to travel to grocery stores located in suburban communities leaving gas stations, dollar stores and fast-food restaurants the only food choices for far too many. It’s always easy to identify a problem, but the real work begins in with the decision to move from problem identification to problem resolution.
Another phenomenon that was occurring almost simultaneously was young white suburbanites coming into the City of Detroit to establish community gardens. On the surface, their actions could be perceived as having good intentions, but up close and personal, it was in reality an affront because at no time were we a part of the conversation. Again, the missionary “white savior” mentality on full display as if we needed someone from “outside” the community, mind you, the very same people who had abandoned the city, to come in and rescue us. Absurd, especially when it comes to agricultural technology. To come into our community and make decisions without having any conversations with community members, an act of total disrespect to the people. An even more damaging outcome of their actions was the distorted optics being presented to our children. It is psychologically damaging to Black children when they only see white leadership in their communities in relationship to that which is life enhancing and life sustaining. Seeing someone who does not look like them coming in to “help us” with whatever the problem or the perception of the problem. It is our belief that those who are closest to the problem are the ones who are most capable of addressing and resolving that problem. Food insecurity continues to be a concern within our community. If you have been to any supermarket in the last month or so, you can understand why our ability to address the issue of food insecurity is more important now than ever before!
Our children must be integrated into this work and they must understand that the ability to grow your own food is liberating and not something to be ashamed of. This work is liberating because you understand that self-reliance is guiding the work and not someone from the outside. We don’t need saviors; we don’t need anyone to come in from the outside to save us because we have everything that we need. We can provide the solutions to whatever the obstacles that prevent us from having an optimal life.
Self-determination is defined as providing for and maintaining for yourself. The Food Warriors program is not only about teaching our youth how to grow food but to also understand the importance of and relationship between nutrition, physical activity and good health. The program reintegrates youth into the natural environment by helping them to understand that we are a part of this natural world. Not only are we an integral part of nature but it is our responsibility to be the caretakers of nature or Mother Earth. One of the first lessons that the Food Warriors learn is that every living organism in nature has a purpose. When we go out into the garden and see a bug, most six and seven-year old’s first inclination is to squash the bug. In the Food Warriors Program, youth learn that there are organisms that are beneficial and then there are organisms that can be harmful, but there is also a natural rhythm and balance to nature, and part of that balance is that the beneficial organisms will help to keep in check those that might be harmful. As we learn about the various plants, youth learn to identify plants that are commonly called “weeds”, but many of those “weeds” contain properties that may be beneficial to our health and well-being.
As the children spend more time in the garden, they begin to really connect with the rhythms of nature and that’s where the magic really happens. In June of 2022, at The Barack Obama Leadership Academy, one of the teachers came out and she was admiring the garden. One of my first graders, an ambassador in the garden and one of my first gardeners, began to engage the teacher in conversation identifying various plants that we are growing in the garden. To bear witness to this 6-year-old engaging this adult in identifying garlic, strawberries, rhubarb, and collards was a magical sight. At one point, Mama Hanifa’s first grader said, “Oh no, these are not collard greens, this is rhubarb. The reason that the rhubarb and the strawberries are growing together is because they are best friends, but you can’t eat the leaf because the leaf will make you sick you can only eat the stalk.”
The first Food N’ Flava Program was in 2015. Food N’ Flava is an entrepreneurial program that engages 14- to 16-year-olds in food systems education with the goal being the opportunity to create value added products that can be marketed. The program provides space to assist youth with designing value added products that they can take to market in order to understand the many aspects of the food system including production, processing, manufacturing, distribution, and consumption. More specifically, youth gain hands-on experience and a deepening of their understanding of food security and its relationship to our ultimate goal of food sovereignty in the city of Detroit.
The Food N’ Flava Program this year is from July 9th through October 29th. There are community partners to assist in the overall program and these partners have expertise in specific areas. Youth will have the opportunity to go into one of the community kitchens to develop their product! Mama Hanifa is a canner, so the youth learned about canning and herbal tea blends, then the youth have the opportunity to take their products to the annual DBCFSN harvest festival and they set-up a booth to sell their handmade goods. The fourth principle, Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) is demonstrated from start to finish in the Food N’ Flava Program.
There are presently three Food Warriors Programs. There are two afterschool program sites, Barack Obama Leadership Academy on the Eastside and McDowell Preparatory Academy on the Westside. Our Saturday community program site at the of the Black Madonna Church is presently on pause for the summer. We are looking to resume activities at the Shrine in the fall. Either in person or a continuation of our 2nd and 4th Saturday virtual sessions. If families are interested in the Saturday program, contact Mama Hanifa (hadjuman@dbcfsn.org) for more information.
The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network is a blueprint for black food sovereignty and self-determination. It is the hope that developing and affirming agricultural technological skills in our youth by way of the Food Warriors and Food N’ Flava programs, will plant seeds that will become the legacies of food sovereignty for generations to come.
These programs teach our youth that they should never be ashamed to pick up a hoe, a rake, or a spade because Africans were the first to domesticate an animal, to cultivate a crop and the first to develop our relationship with Mother Earth. These activities took place long before we were stolen from our homeland, and this genius of agriculture, and although not the only reason, was certainly one of the reasons for our capture and enslavement. We must always remember, as we go about this work, to stay rooted in who we are and continue to teach our children who they are and who our ancestors were. As part of the foundation of DBCFSN, our youth programs are designed to provide the next generation with the tools needed to continue to advance the work of food sovereignty even as they speak our names at the Ancestral roll call.
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