West Oakland's Battle...

West Oakland is a community surrounded by freeways. I drive by it every time I go into San Francisco; it's only 13 miles away from my apartment in Moraga. This large section of the city does not have a grocery store, only liquor stores and fast food restaurants. Our class' community partner, People's Grocery, has been working hard to bring food justice to the people of West Oakland. They are currently building a market (planned to open later this year) in West Oakland that will provide healthy, fresh and affordable food (and fair jobs for locals) versus their other option of processed and packaged foods found at the local liquor stores. Recently, the low-end grocery chain Foods Co. has threatened to use eminent domain to bring a store into West Oakland, creating a debate between many people who simply want access to any food, and the many others who want access to healthy, good and fresh food. Here is an article about Foods Co. and the people of West Oakland's battle for access to food. Today our class took our first trip into West Oakland to meet with People's Grocery and visit a few urban gardens.

We visited a surprising number of urban gardens throughout West Oakland. (Long Beach needs to step it up.) The first garden we visited was at the California Hotel. This hotel is very rich in history... today I learned that this is where traveling people of color stayed during the time that Jim Crow laws were still in place. Many famous musicians and activists stayed at this hotel during this time. (There is a good number of songs that reference the California Hotel.) The first floor was once a ballroom where the local high school would have it's prom. Today, the hotel is home to about 30 low-income residents along with some non-profits on the first floor. The building is in poor condition but there are plans for improvements in the near future. It looks like it must have been beautiful during its prime.

People's Grocery has helped the residents here grow a beautiful urban garden behind the hotel. This community garden has replaced an old parking lot that used to store cars and motorcycles. We met with two people from People's Grocery along with a resident of the California Hotel, Mickey, who has spent much time working in the garden and with the chickens. Mickey was very excited to show us around, I could tell that this garden means a lot to him.

"Flowers are not the only thing that bloom in the garden- people do." H.C. Flores, Food Not Lawns

People's Grocery has taught the residents how to compost and they have worms in boxes with the compost to digest it and turn it into fertilizer. There are raised beds and boxes so that the residents who are in wheelchairs can also participate in gardening and harvesting. Right now, there are fava beans, kale, herbs, potatoes, shallots, lettuce, flowers, chard, chickens, and much more growing in this urban garden. It's an amazing place that brings good, clean, and fair food to the struggling tenants of the California Hotel. This is so different than a soup kitchen or a food donation. This is food justice at it's finest. These people are not simply given food, they are being taught how to grow and care for these plants that produce their own food. West Oakland is described as a "food desert" since grocery stores are absent. However, the people there are transforming their community. They have taken matters into their own hands and have worked with NPOs to grow small yet magnificent urban gardens throughout the neighborhoods of West Oakland. Through this, not only are they strengthening their bodies, they are also strengthening their community.

"The old adage still rings true: Give a person a fish and feed her for a day; teach her to fish and feed her for a lifetime." H.C. Flores, Food Not Lawns