From Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Food Sovereignty

[Music]

my love for agriculture

started in kindergarten my teacher miss

smith

asked me what i wanted to be when i grew

up and truthfully

i’ve been watching way too much buffy

the vampire slayer

that i even knew the dance intro so

i obviously told her i wanted to become

a vampire slayer

frantically she called my mom and

advised me to choose something else

so i did what any other normal horse

girl would do become

an equine veterinarian i had never gone

horseback riding but

i knew i wanted to work with large

animals and i begged my mom

to take me horseback riding for months

until she finally

said yes that’s when i knew i needed to

study

you see for some odd reason i thought

they were going to quiz me on the

anatomy of the horse and the attack that

would be needed to ride the horse

i studied up until the very last minute

when my mom yelled for me to get into

the car

i felt alive and free while riding the

horse

not only did i feel free because of the

interaction with this magical creature

but also because it was an outlet for my

childhood self

to get away from being bullied i had

recently gone from a diverse school to a

predominantly rich white school

kids would make fun of me for my hair my

skin color

the dresses my mom had sewn for me and

many other things

but this led me to want to change my

appearance so i could feel

accepted so every night i’d say a prayer

to god

please let me have blue eyes and

straight hair when i wake up

i would skip afternoon swim practice so

i wouldn’t get a tan

i wore my hair up in a tight bun from

second grade

to eighth grade so i wouldn’t have to

hear the comments about how my hair

is ugly and messy i felt alone

my dad was working two hours away and my

mom was a sweet french lady

whom i didn’t think would understand

american racism

it wasn’t until a beautiful and bright

girl kennedy

who walked into my fifth grade class and

became my best friend

you see kenny didn’t care about my hair

or my skin color

or my clothes or anything she just

wanted to crack jokes help people

and play soccer we were made best

friends

all throughout middle school too but

things started to shift in eighth grade

she had to go get surgery for a brain

tumor and although i was 13

i didn’t understand the weight of the

situation

thankfully her surgery went well and all

of her best friends and i were able

to play with her in the hospital gym

afterwards

everything was relatively okay until the

cancer came back stronger than before

she had stage four terminal brain cancer

having to overhear from the adult say

that your best friend

is only expected to live four months

from now places a chokehold on all of

your future aspirations

in april we reached out to drake

kennedy’s favorite artist at the time

asking him to come and visit kennedy and

on his only day off

he came and visited kennedy and all of

her friends and family

gradually the brain cancer took over her

normal motor functions

but i would visit hold her hand talk to

her

and read her some of her favorite books

i felt an immense amount of guilt

for not being a better friend throughout

elementary and middle school

i wanted to be seen and accepted so i

believed i needed

to change to fit the mold everyone had

for me

that i needed materialistic items to be

cool and popular

that i needed to be someone else than

who i truly was

to be accepted this led me to not being

the best supportive friend at the time

i was so caught up trying to impress

people who didn’t even accept the

authentic me

filled with guilt sadness and anger

the only thing that brought me some type

of solace

was being in nature gardening or

interacting with animals

i no longer cared what people thought

about my hair

what clothes i owned or what people

thought of me

i just wanted to crack one more joke

with my best friend

just one last time

i knew that wherever i went i’d have to

bring my true self

so we all create an image of contentment

and a path to achieve it as this gives

us a sense of purpose

with the contentment that nature brought

me i learned more about food security

nutrition and sustainability i grew food

in my backyard with my parents and

learned how racial inequities

played within our food system with that

i grew a sense of purpose and made it my

life’s journey

to alleviate food insecurity when i was

a freshman on campus

i vividly remember my intro to animal

science course where we took a trip down

to the governor bill and vera daniel

farm

i remember seeing so much potential as

to what we could do

and how the students could take part i

remember writing up different

projects and how we could achieve them

how we get the funding and what an

impact this would make

to support not only the university but

also the citizens of the cities nearby

us

i pitched my idea to professors

administrators and peers

and while everyone loved the idea they

just said

i hope you’re able to make this come

true dumbfounded i’m like

well could you potentially help me out

and without a

veil i would always hit the wall with

the words oh sorry i’m too busy

or just wait until we have somebody who

can help you out i couldn’t stand those

answers

and i didn’t want to give up so i go

back to the drawing board

ran a bit to my friends and eventually

asked my dad for advice

he would always say no just means not

yet

or you’re not asking the right person

so i shared my message with anyone who

would listen in hopes that someone would

see the value in creating a student-led

garden

that would allow for students to get

connected with their food and allow the

communities around us to not be food

insecure

the closest store that has affordable

fresh and nutrient dense food was 20

miles away from campus

yet we had approximately 800 acres of

farmland

it wasn’t until dr james a wilson jr

my mentor professor and motivator

listened to my story and instead of

saying i wish you well

shocked me with you’re the person i’ve

been waiting for

within a year we received a fifteen

thousand dollar foundational grant for

the student garden to get

started not only that but the vision

would include the collaboration of the

college of agriculture

and the college of business to

eventually start a farmers market

everything felt like it was finally

coming together

but other people had different plans for

this vision

instead of this being about the impact

that it would make for the wellness of

the university and the surrounding

cities

it became a game of who would get the

most recognition the project’s primary

focus was

no longer about how we can help those

around us eat healthy

it was it became about profit and glory

similarly to other creatives ideas can

get hijacked

but in moments when inspired outcomes

don’t work out as you had envisioned

you can either persist with what you

believe is right or you can freeze

rest and work at it in another light in

another angle

i chose the latter and dr wilson gave me

the validation to rest

pivot and keep pushing on

he always encouraged me to do more and

be more with the opportunities that the

university

and the world provided as he always said

to his students

don’t be typical in 2019

i applied to three different programs

that would allow me to further my dream

of becoming a farmer and a medical

doctor

who helped build up black and indigenous

communities through their food systems

i attended the summer institute for

emerging managers and leaders

at the university of california to learn

more about business and build

relationships with people who are

already passionate about that field

i was able to participate in a case

study present our ideas to boos allen

hamilton representatives

and secured funding for an mba next

i was off to switzerland and croatia to

study food security and nutrition

through the school of international

training

while there i was able to choose a

research topic that interested me

i decided i would talk about racism and

agriculture but

the major issues that i faced were one i

had

absolutely no one to interview in

switzerland

about american racism and agriculture

two

the people that were talking about this

topic were not getting the recognition

that they deserved

thus it was not easily searchable and

three

after emailing and cold calling major

agriculture companies and non-profits

i they all said something similar to i

don’t know if any racial issue that

exists in agriculture

or i simply wouldn’t get a response i

was bummed

but i did have one person get back to me

and say that i could interview them

miss lindsley lunsford from tuskegee

university and i were able to discuss

the atrocities that have been put up

against black people

native americans and latinx people

i had found that 97 percent of the arab

agriculture land in the united states

was owned by white people in 1910

14 of u.s farmers were black and

collectively owned

16 million acres by 1997

fewer than 20 000 farmers were black and

collectively owned

two million acres that’s a drastic

change from 1 million

farmers to less than 20 000 farmers

since the 1920s there’s been a steady

decline in the number of black

individuals who will operate

farms in the united states if african

american farmers had left agriculture at

the same rate

as white farmers since the 1920s there

would still be

300 000 black farmers left

as pete daniels stated in his book

dispossession

natives are two to four times more

likely to be food insecure

largely as a result of living in

locations where food supplies are scarce

in 2011 the racial makeup of farmworkers

were 28.6 percent white 3.4 percent

block

and 65.3 percent hispanic

farm workers are excluded from federal

overtime requirements

and they used to be excluded from

federal minimum wage requirements

with all of these statistics how could i

not want to create change

my work in racism and agriculture didn’t

halt there

but days after my adventure in

switzerland i traveled to china

to participate in the ching fellowship

where students from china

and students from the united states

interacted to help build relationships

between these two countries

it wasn’t until i was in china where i

realized i had signed up for the wrong

part of the program

i signed up for the technology part of

the program instead of the same

sustainability part of the program

so even though i accidentally marked x

on the wrong box

i have now been able to further mesh the

idea of agriculture and big data

together

embrace collaboration within yourself

using the knowledge

and passion that you are most

comfortable with and intertwine that

with something that you have very little

knowledge about

by participating in all three of these

experiences i’ve been able to remain

resilient

adapt the challenges that are in front

of me and add more to the peer review

community

prairie view a m university the name has

changed several times

from alta vista agriculture and

mechanical college for the colored youth

to prairieview state normal and

industrial college

even though change is inevitable the

three values on the preview and cigna

remain true for success as a student

today

research teaching and service

through research you’ll be able to see

what you enjoy

what piques your interest what you don’t

enjoy doing

always be willing to place yourself in

front of opportunities regardless of the

outcome

by conducting research i have met

lifelong friends

traveled to three different countries

and

found my passion even though we come to

college to be taught by others

there are plenty of time where the role

switches

where the student is now the teacher

those around you

may not have the same resources

opportunities or experiences as you

when this happens be sure to share an

internship opportunity

a scholarship or even introduce them to

someone who can help them further

achieve their goals

i learned that from kennedy the essence

of compassion

actually gave me the courage to stop

trying to be like someone else

now i advocate for others to strive for

their best and support them when they

fall

so this is your reminder wherever you go

make sure to bring you with you

service comes in many forms and dr

wilson was

a service to others by truly listening

and uplifting his students you could

find students running

in and out of his office just needing to

vent and he would give his undivided

attention

to make sure that they were taken care

of find a mentor that supports

you and be sure to give back to the

communities that are around you

by volunteering with non-profits you can

help others and build relationships with

other bridge builders

i was able to do this through

agriculture future of america

where they provide students with the

opportunity to interact with industry

professionals

and the farmlink project a group of

students

working nationwide to combat food

insecurity amid the ongoing pandemic

by bringing food from farms with surplus

crop

to those in need the farmland project

was started in april 2020

when a group of university students

couldn’t stand the idea of billions of

pounds of food

going to waste every year

and millions of people going hungry

every day

they risked the idea of starting a

non-profit to change that

and now the farmland project has

delivered over 24 million pounds of food

to families in need so tell your idea to

others

work on it fail at it and learn from it

when you’re passionate about a topic it

can be incredibly hard to keep it to

yourself

from talking to everyone else about it i

kept telling people about my vision

for student garden until finally someone

said yes

two years later you don’t have to have

everything figured out

you just have to bet on yourself and go

as dr wilson always said

don’t be typical

in july of 2014 kennedy passed away

and while i lost my best friend she

taught me how to be a better advocate

for myself

and for those who need support i now

aspire to create a farm

that helps build up black and indigenous

communities

with the injustices that go on within

the agriculture field i know that i’ll

be able to shine some of kennedy’s light

onto the work that i’m i will be doing

so

i leave you with this we all go to work

to get rich but what are you truly

enriching