New Visions: What is the more just and liberated world we know is possible, that guides our hands and hearts?

In her book Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brownwrites that we are currently engaged in an “imagination battle.”She says that conditions as they are now in our communities, country and world are the result of a de-humanizing and domination-oriented view.

“Imagination has people thinking they can go from being poor to a millionaire as part of a shared American dream. Imagination turns brown bombers into terrorists and white bombers into mentally ill victims. Imagination gives us borders, gives us superiority, gives us race as an indicator of ability. I often feel I am trapped inside someone else’s capability. I often feel I am trapped inside someone else’s imagination, and I must engage my own imagination in order to break free.”

We at FSNE wholeheartedly agree that part of our work is to imagine a way forward beyond oppressive structures and extractive mindsets. adrienne maree brown asks, “How do we grow dreams that are so big that they can’t stay in dreamland?”

What dreams do you have for just and liberated food systems?

As you consider systems (including organizations and communities) that work for everyone, what comes to mind and to heart? What images do you see, what sounds do you hear. what textures do you feel and evne what foods do you taste?

If you are struggling to come up with something, have you had even small glimpses of that future, in a moment, in an interaction? What was that like? How could that seed be nurtured? Reach out to a friend or family member or colleague. Reach out across lines of race and ethnicity to have this conversation and exploration.

For additional inspiration consider reaching this brief piece by Dahlia Ferlito  – “A Practice in Visioning a World Beyond White Supremacy.

Or check out the science fiction inspired project for justice curated by adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha, Octavia’s Brood.

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And here is another possible approach. Richard Haynes is an African American artist who resides with his family in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and is originally from Charleston, South Carolina. Richard calls himself “a cultural keeper and maker” who “uses his art not only to make society aware of the invisible in this world but also to provoke unity.”One of his projects focuses on revisiting and re-visioning the past the way it might have gone differently with respect to racism and othering, so as to get a different vision of what the future could be.

How might you retell the past as a way of creating inspiration and ideas for a just and liberated future?