D2_Agraria_Journal_21_OPT

left to deteriorate and then be swept up by some corporate entity who thought a landfill or a parking lot or some other obnoxious structure would work well for them in our space. Meanwhile Black Americans were once again becoming not just homeless but landless. I knew then that we had to find a way to save our land and produce the goods and services we needed to survive. And at the very top of that list was Food. We didn’t need food banks and food pantries or free food programs. We needed to create sustainable sources of revenue and goods by reclaiming our communities. At the same time food apartheid had created such a crisis we had to start with immediately addressing hunger. But, in the long run the survival of “all” people depends on the autonomy and ownership of the land, our land. I believe education, organization, and reparations are all necessary steps to our future success. This is my passion: to reintroduce descendants of Africans to the heart of our existence—our love for the earth and our allegiance to the land. We have been brainwashed to believe we were created as slaves to work someone else’s land. But we have within us generational knowledge of what we need to create and produce. We just have to unlock those secrets, remove the indoctrination, and return to the land. Cheryl Wood Smith is a member of the Agraria board of trustees and on the organizing committee for the Black Farming Conference. AGRARIA JOURNAL 2021 29 Regenerative Farming Fellows visited The Narrow Way Farm in Brookeville, OH. The farm is owned and operated by David and Tia Stuart. Mandy Knaul provided rototiller training to Regenerative Farming Fellows. DENNIE EAGLESON DENNIE EAGLESON