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What is food justice? 


Food Desert? Food apartheid? What’s the difference? Reproductive Justice? How is that even related??


Food Justice… the fundamental belief that healthy food is a human right and the movement to address the barriers that keep that idea from coming to fruition (Food and Society Program, 2021). It is a very multifaceted topic and, at its core, an issue of racial equity.


Reproductive Justice is generally understood to be the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent those children in safe and sustainable communities. It wasn’t until Dr. Arline Geronimus coined the term “weathering” to describe how the countless forms of chronic stress that result from a lifetime of discrimination was linked to negative birth outcomes among BIPOC birthing communities. Also at its core, an issue of racial equity.


These countless forms of chronic stress range from access to healthcare, to obstetric violence, all the way to food injustice… There is a direct correlation between the Black maternal health crisis and the structural racism within food systems, which prevents communities of color from accessing the nutrients needed for healthy pregnancies…From access to land and capital for BIPOC farmers to economic disinvestment through redlining policies, the US government has actively hindered access to healthful foods in Black and Brown neighborhoods.


Community Roots Garden is rooted in justice and we invite others to join our cause!