Please support the Walk for Good Food! The Southeast Area Farmers’ Market is one of the recipients of Walk funds — and OKT manages the market! Open from the July through November at Grand Rapids’ Martin Luther King Jr. Park, our market ‘s vendors are primarily women of color from Grand Rapids’ Southeast neighborhoods. Most of our sales are completed with food assistance dollars.
Because the market takes part in the Double Up Food Bucks program, our patrons using SNAP benefits can purchase twice as much fresh, local produce. This means that our neighbors with income challenges can feed their households even more nutritious food –even though they live in neighborhoods that otherwise have very limited access to healthy foods.
SUNDAY, MAY 5th, 2PM TO 4PM: IN-PERSON KICK OFF AT Richmond Park! This year’s event will include an in-person kick-off event at Richmond Park (1101 Richmond St NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504). The event will include t-shirt pick-up, light refreshments, a walking route, and children’s activities. Stay tuned as more details will be shared such as maps and volunteer opportunities.
MAY 5 – MAY 15: WALK IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD In the past three years we’ve found that many loved engaging in the Walk by gathering in their own community or walking on their own. You and/or your team do not have to attend the in-person event to participate.
One of the most egregious forms of food injustice is the use starvation as a weapon of war. Throughout history, conquerors and colonialists have used this tactic. In the 1800s, the U.S. government encouraged the slaughter of buffalo in order to starve Native Americans off from from their lands. In Nazi Germany, Hitler used it against Germany’s Jewish citizens. In 2018, the use of starvation as a weapon of war was outlawed by the UN Security Council in Resolution 2417. But today, this weapon is being used against the infants, children, adults, and elders in Gaza.
Contact your senator and representative and ask them to vote for not only a ceasefire, but also aid and restoration of the supply chain in occupied Palestine.
Some years back, OKT created this booklet, “Growing Food, Eating Healthy, Living Sustainably.” We recently updated it a bit. Feel free to print, share, and use the information within. You’ll find growing tips, recipes, food justice information, and more.
West Michigan is brimming with food assistance organizations, but our community continues to acknowledge “hunger” as a constant threat to children, families, and seniors. We need a new approach — a thriving community where all residents have access to healthy and affordable local food. This is why we walk.
Children in Flint and Port Huron, Michigan have filed two landmark civil rights lawsuits asserting their constitutional right to visit their jailed parents. Hundreds of counties across the United States have banned in-person jail visits for families, depriving children of the ability to see their parents face-to-face for months or years. Why? To make money.
The class action lawsuits allege that beginning over a decade ago, the largest jail telecommunications companies had an idea—if jails banned children and families from visiting each other for free, families would be forced to purchase more expensive phone and video calls. The market for prison and jail “technology services” is dominated by just two companies—Securus Technologies and the company popularly known as Global Tel*Link, or GTL. Each year, these companies extract over a billion dollars in revenue from families forced to pay high prices for low-quality phone and video calls.
Securus and GTL, sheriffs, and county officials across the country worked together to negotiate lucrative monopoly contracts that charge families hundreds of millions of dollars per year while the companies and counties split the profits. The bans on family visits now leave costly, faulty phone and video calls as the only way for children and parents to talk to their jailed loved ones. Taking away the ability of children to hold hands with their mom and dad, hug them, and look them in the eye has devastating effects on the mental and physical well-being of millions of children. And evidence shows it hurts public safety as well.
The plaintiffs have filed two lawsuits. In S.L. v. Swanson, children and parents of people detained at the Genesee County Jail (Flint) sued Sheriff Chris Swanson; Genesee County; GTL; and the company’s CEO, Deb Alderson. In M.M. v. King, family members of people confined at the St. Clair County Jail (Port Huron) sued Sheriff Mat King; St. Clair County; Securus; the company’s billionaire owner, Tom Gores; Platinum Equity, the private equity firm that manages it; and several other corporate executives.
The plaintiffs are seeking immediate preliminaryinjunctions against the bans on family visits so that they can be allowed to see and hug their parents. They are represented by Civil Rights Corps, Public Justice, and Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonnani & Rivers. Partner Alex Spiro and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan have entered an appearance for purposes of litigating the preliminary injunctions.
“Family connection is a foundation of our well-being and society,” said Leslie Bailey, Director of the Debtors’ Prison Project at Public Justice. “Separating parents and children to make money is not only morally reprehensible, it is illegal and violates the Michigan Constitution.”
The complaints allege that by banning all in-person visits, defendants conspired to infringe on the parent-child relationship to make money. As one Genesee County official put it: “That video visitation is going to work…A lot of people are going to swipe that Mastercard and visit their grandkids.” “Well that is a nice increase in revenues!” said one St. Clair County employee. “Heck yes it is!” responded another. “Keeps getting bigger every month too .”
“These lawsuits allege that, for years now, Securus and GTL have essentially bribed counties to ban in-person visits so they can make more money hawking their expensive and drastically inferior forms of communication to families with no other options,” said Cody Cutting, Staff Attorney at Civil Rights Corps. “These companies and counties exploit the love between children and parents to make money, harming children and our communities in the process. We should be supporting children experiencing the pain of having a parent incarcerated, not punishing them.”
“After pandemic lockdowns in which we all felt the pain of being physically cut off from those closest to us, we can all appreciate that phone and video calls cannot compare to seeing and hugging our loved ones,” said Robin Wagner, Partner at Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonnani & Rivers. “For these children, there is simply no substitute for seeing and touching their parents.”
“When you’re talking to someone in person, you can actually feel them,” explained thirteen-year-old Plaintiff C.L. “On the phone, you’re so far away from each other.”
Want to take part in the Amnesty Program? Call 616.632.5525 or email contact@grcourt.org to discuss balances and make payments.
The 61st District Court in Grand Rapids has launched an Amnesty Program now through April 30. The program offers eligible community members a chance to avoid late fees, bench warrant fees and show cause fees.
Chief Judge Angela T. Ross said the program embodies the courts’ dedication to serving as pillars of support, fairness and compassion within the community.
“It helps people solve their legal issues. It also strengthens trust and connection between the courts and the people they serve,” she said. This reflects the courts’ deep commitment to the community. It helps people access justice and resolve legal issues. It does so in a supportive and affordable way. We understand life is hard. This program recognizes the challenges people face and waives fees they incurred as a result.”
Individuals who wish to take part in the Amnesty Program may call or email the court at 616.632.5525 or contact@grcourt.org to discuss balances and make payments. Once set, individuals must appear in person to address a bench warrant. People can get amnesty for all misdemeanors, traffic tickets and civil infractions. This includes cases with warrants for not paying and late fees, show cause fees and/or bench warrant fees.
During the amnesty period, if the original amount is paid in full the Court will waive late fees, show cause fees and warrant fees, and will cancel the warrant. An agreement to a wage assignment will result in fees being removed once the original costs are paid in full. Any default on a wage assignment will result in fees not being removed. For specifics and terms of the program, visit www.grcourt.org.
OKT’s executive director Lisa Oliver-King was part of a panel discussing environmental racism and food apartheid at an Access of West Michigan meeting for Walk recipient organizations in February. Considering the historical context of Black and Brown people’s deep connection with land and agriculture, OKT has noted several barriers to reconnection.
Black farmers have historically been driven off from their farms here in Michigan and elsewhere. The redlined neighborhoods where many Black and Brown people live now have lead contaminated soil, lack space for growing, and lack urban ag opportunities due to how the city controls use off vacant lots. And of course, these are the same neighborhoods impacted by food apartheid.
Indigenous Michiganders have likewise been driven off their lands and their native diets replaced with SAD, the standard American diet, resulting in obesity and disease. African Americans may feel torn about growing their own food as it can be a reminder of forced labor on plantations during enslavement. And of course, institutional racism serves to restrict opportunities for Black and Brown people, especially as huge agribusinesses buy out more and more farms.
We often hear the term “food desert,” which is used to refer to neighborhoods without a full service grocery store. Since 2010, OKT has not used the term food desert. A desert is a living ecosystem where plants and animals can thrive. Instead, OKT has defined food apartheid as “The intentional, systemic marketing and distribution of profitable, nutrient-poor, disease-causing foods to income-challenged neighborhoods, mainly, communities of color (i.e. communities receiving the most food assistance dollars).”
How can we utilize this reclamation of food sovereignty as a form of resistance against food apartheid? By looking to the ways our ancestors – maybe even our grandparents – grew food, preserved food, and prepared food and reclaiming the nutritionally rich foods of that not so distant past we too can grow food, learn to choose those healthy foods, and learn how to prepare them for our families. True soul food, traditional Latinx foods, and decolonized Indigenous foods are basically healthy foods.
We can “vote” with our food dollars. The extra time spent traveling to a farmers market can save time lost to disease and illness, but not all have transportation.
We can advocate for healthier foods in our neighborhoods, starting with the foods fed to children in public schools.
We can share the message with each other that the boxed, processed, fast and junk foods sold in our neighborhoods and promoted by slick media campaigns are killing us.
And we can advocate for media literacy that helps us and our children learn how to deconstruct advertising messages and decrease the impact they have on our food consumption.
We can also advocate for representation and acknowledgement of the Black, Latinx, and Indigenous American contribution to American cuisine. If we’ll buy it, they’ll sell it. The Foodies have swayed the industry to offer all kinds of healthy foods to white people who have extra money to spend on food. Maybe if Black and Brown people create a movement to eat healthy foods from our own cultures – and refuse to eat the crap that the industrial food system is currently selling us – they will begin to offer healthier, culturally relevant options.
Knowledge is power. Where are our kids getting their information about food? From Ronald McDonald? From their phones, computers, the billboards in their neighborhoods? Kids aren’t stupid. Let’s sit down at each of our kitchen tables and have a conversation. And set an example.
OKT’s executive editor, Lisa Oliver-King presented to the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine 9th Annual Reach Out to Youth Program (ROTY). ROTY is a college sponsored program that is free to all participants and their parents, with the assistance of the MSU Student National Medical Association (SNMA) serving as facilitators. As one of the activities the kids took part in was a recipe for food to go with coffee, she decided to address the topic of coffee in her presentation. So, OKT communications staff developed this new handout, based on the online article BITTER BREW: THE STIRRING REALITY OF COFFEE on The Food Empowerment Project website.
Citing the late poet June Jordan, political activist Angela Davis stresses the importance of Palestine for other social justice movements.
There has been a long history of solidarity between Palestinians and Black Americans, and these last few weeks have been no exception.
While Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, numerous Black activists in the United States have come together to demonstrate their solidarity with Palestinians.
These two places are more than 6,000 miles away from each other, with very different histories. So what’s behind this common recognition of a shared struggle?
On UpFront, renowned political activist Angela Davis speaks with Marc Lamont Hill on the history and meaning of Black American solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Our Kitchen Table has again been chosen as a recipient of funds raised by the Access of West Michigan Walk for Good Food. OKT uses these funds to support the operations of the Southeast Area Farmers Market. Stay tuned to learn how you can support the 2024 Walk for Good Food by joining a walk team, donating to OKT’s team, or becoming an OKT corporate walk sponsor. #Walk4GoodFood #W4GF #AccessWM
Our Kitchen Table 