{"id":68513,"date":"2025-02-04T21:45:27","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T21:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/activist\/the-power-of-community-in-building-a-movement\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T21:45:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T21:45:27","slug":"the-power-of-community-in-building-a-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=68513","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Community in Building a Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Vegan activism in communities of color <\/span>in the DMV\u2014the metropolitan area formed by D.C., Maryland, and Virginia\u2014has steadily gained momentum in recent years. Area activists Jamila Anahata, Starr Carrington, Brenda Sanders, and Veronica Velasquez are part of the driving force challenging the myth that veganism is an \u201caffluent white thing.\u201d From holistic wellness to social justice education, community outreach to healing through food, they each have their own approach to vegan advocacy. And collectively, they represent the power of community in creating a lasting movement for change. LAIKA<\/i> brought the four together for a group discussion to learn how they\u2019re creating cultural connection, making plant-based lifestyles more accessible and inclusive and radically shifting perceptions of what veganism looks like.\u00a0Note:<\/span> This interview and photo shoot took place prior to the covid-19 pandemic. The story has been updated to reflect recent developments in the subjects\u2019 lives.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Building Unity<\/b><\/span><\/sup><\/h3>\n

Visibility \u2014 simply being proudly Black and vegan \u2014 might be the most powerful tool in creating a Black vegan community, according to Washington, D.C.-based Starr Carrington<\/a>, founder of the nonprofit Fuel the People<\/a>, a vegan education initiative for Black and Brown folks in the DMV. \u201cWhen I\u2019m at a cookout with my Black family, I\u2019m unapologetically vegan. When I\u2019m in a vegan environment, I bring my Blackness to the forefront.\u201d Fuel the People has helped locals come together by hosting events like Where Black Meets Green, which helps facilitate relationships between DMV communities of color and Black-owned vegan businesses<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs somebody who grew up in a low-income Black community and now works in low-income Black communities, a sense of connectedness is the best way to reach people,\u201d says Brenda Sanders<\/a>, who lives in Baltimore, Maryland and is co-founder of Afro-Vegan Society<\/a>. \u201cA lot of times, the communities where we work are ignored,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it\u2019s even been surprising to me to see that these communities are really enthusiastic about learning more about veganism.\u201d Sanders formerly operated Thrive Baltimore, a plant-based community center; its cornerstone annual program (free, like all programming that Sanders puts on) was the four-week vegan immersion course Plant-Based Jumpstart. Sanders says that she wants what she calls the \u201clifesaving affirmation\u201d of veganism to be fully accessible to \u201cevery single person who needs it.\u201d And during a pandemic that has been disproportionally devastating to Black communities, she pivoted into online events that have been attended by hundreds\u2014 like Afro-Vegan Society\u2019s recent Vegan Holiday Cooking Demo Series<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanders also believes that it\u2019s vital to put an emphasis on culturally-driven celebrations. She co-founded the summer festival Vegan SoulFest six years ago with this mission in mind. Its Vegan Mac \u2018n Cheese Smackdown \u2014 a more \u201chype\u201d take on a traditional competition \u2014 brought in a thousand people at last year\u2019s event. This method of vegan advocacy is catching on. \u201cA lot of the events that we innovated here in Baltimore have actually spread out and sort of caught fire in cities all over the country, and even internationally,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fellow Baltimore resident Jamila <\/a><\/span>Anahata\u2019s background is in<\/span> creating consciousness-raising safe spaces to practice Black womxn magic in, like the Third Eye Vision Board parties and Smoke & Chill plant-based potlucks she organized prior to the pandemic. The self-proclaimed metalhead and author of the blog, The Soulful Veganista<\/a>, went vegan to solve her health issues. She knows from personal experience that going solo can make for a tougher transition. \u201cBut when there are other people who look like you and have the same background as you, it makes you feel less alone.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

That was the idea behind chef Veronica Velasquez<\/a>\u2019s DC Vegan Foodie Nights, a series of sold-out sliding scale dinner pop-ups which she ran for two years starting in 2018. \u201cI decided to focus on making plant-based versions of the food of my foremothers\u2014vegan tamales, wild mushroom asada, oat milk horchata, and melty-cashew cheese pupusas\u2014to share our history, our traditions, and my new traditions,\u201d Velasquez explains of the mission she had with her dinner series.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In October, Velasquez and fellow chef Doris Quintanilla launched their artisanal vegan cheese company Daughters of Izote<\/a>. Their plant-based versions of Salvadoran cheese favorites like Cuajada and Quesillo not only honor the womens\u2019 ancestry but are sustainably-crafted. For example, the almonds they use are bee-safe, and the packaging is biodegradable. Their meticulous approach serves to protect animals, Pachamama (a goddess revered by the indigenous peoples of the Andesm and a metaphor for nature), and future generations. This is especially important to Velasquez, a new mom to daughter Jolene, who she joyfully says is, \u201cyasss, being raised vegan!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Creating Pathways<\/b><\/span><\/sup> <\/b><\/h3>\n

A common pushback to veganism that Sanders says she hears is, \u201cthere\u2019s no way I can pay for all these things that make you vegan.\u201d Yet for a long time, she explains, the opposite had been true. For generations, people from many cultures would eat primarily plant-based because meat was more expensive. \u201cNow we have a situation where there is so much disparity in wealth and opportunity, and veganism is so wrapped up in capitalism and purchasing and buying,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are all these products, products, products.\u201d And the latest meat and dairy substitutes can be unaffordable to low-income families.<\/p>\n

In counteracting this, Anahata explains that customizing the methods used to guide people towards veganism makes a difference. \u201cMeet people where they are, for real,\u201d she says, stressing that there\u2019s no one-size-fits-all approach to her vegan advocacy. She witnessed tangible impact through the in-home fridge consultations and grocery tours she formerly offered, which she says helped \u201cshow people what things are plant-based in their local market, and what the ingredients mean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anahata has been making the most of her online presence in recent months, channeling that same spirit of collective healing into her online presence. On her Instagram page, she regularly posts affirmations like I take care of myself because I am my highest priority<\/em> and offers support and conversation through her Witchy Wednesday Live sessions.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u201cWe could heal ourselves with veganism.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n

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Providing options that make veganism feel practical and familiar, as well as exciting, is also crucial. Sanders\u2019 worker-owned collective The Greener Kitchen<\/a> serves plant-based takeout like chicken and waffles and cheesesteak at their deli in Baltimore\u2019s diverse Pigtown neighborhood. They also make inexpensive vegan meats and cheeses in-house so that area residents have access to plant-based foods and \u201cdon\u2019t go buy Kraft Singles because that\u2019s what they can afford, and that\u2019s what\u2019s close by,\u201d says Sanders. \u201cI love beans and rice, but the prospect of only being able to afford that for the rest of your life may not appeal to people who are used to having pork chops and chicken wings.\u201d Although the deli side of The Greener Kitchen operation is temporarily closed, their wholesale products are still available through area restaurant partners.<\/p>\n

Velasquez agrees that the road to the heart is through the stomach: \u201cI feed them first, and then we talk.\u201d She says that meat is still a status symbol in her community, but letting folks taste the vegan possibilities rather than shoving a prescription, literal or figurative, down their throat can be lifesaving. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to see people try some of the options we have on the menu and their pleasantly-surprised reactions to the flavors and textures.\u201d Velasquez says she turned to veganism after being diagnosed as prediabetic. \u201cDiabetes is widely spread in the Brown and Black community. We\u2019re dying, our limbs are being cut off. We could heal ourselves with veganism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love my culture. I love that we gather around food,\u201d adds Carrington, who is passionate about creating a future in which \u201cwe keep the things that empower us and shed the things that literally destroy us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In creating that future, roadblocks from the meat and dairy industries are expected. In February, 2020, several Republican Maryland senators proposed Senate bill 188, which seeks to prohibit labeling like \u201cvegan ribs\u201d or \u201cvegan chicken.\u201d Sanders, who attended the bill hearing, wrote on her Facebook page that the bill would not only punish business owners of color with steep fines and potential prison time but undermine marginalized communities\u2019 access to vegan options, thus creating \u201ceven more inequity and racism in our local food systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fighting Interwoven Forms of Oppression<\/b><\/span><\/sup><\/h3>\n

These four activists reject the notion that human rights activism and animal rights activism are somehow mutually exclusive. \u201cFor [members of] my community, when you watch a video of a pig being slaughtered and you hear the screams, perhaps you\u2019ve already seen something like it,\u201d says Carrington, who recognizes that the desensitization of violence that\u2019s historically existed towards Black and Brown bodies is not unlike the normalization of violence committed against nonhuman animals. \u201cIn this country, white supremacy and capitalism function as a structure from which most oppression stems, and those systems benefit most from disassociating a life from a body,\u201d says Carrington.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why shining a light on the interlinked systems of exploitation is essential. \u201cVeganism exposes multiple other corrupt industries,\u201d Anahata says. Adds Sanders, \u201cIf we\u2019re really about liberation, equity, fairness, righteousness, we can\u2019t continue to ignore the elephant in the room\u2014which is sometimes a literal elephant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Velasquez admits that she \u201cdidn\u2019t necessarily make the connection between the suffering of animals until I cared about myself.\u201d It was then that she grasped that \u201cwe eat the pain and torture embedded in [animals\u2019] flesh.\u201d Anahata is a big believer in making what she calls \u201csoul-care\u201d a priority. It\u2019s the reason she builds her work around providing people of color with opportunities to gather and heal together through practices like yoga and guided meditation. \u201cWe\u2019re finally dealing with intergenerational trauma that\u2019s literally in our DNA, and we\u2019re seeing the abuses of systems on people that we thought were normal for so long,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And ultimately, to topple all of those systems, it is imperative to \u201cadopt <\/span>the mindset that all life is worthy, regardless of the value that capitalism or white supremacy has placed on it,\u201d Carrington emphasizes. \u201cAll life is worth cherishin<\/span>g.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n