Statement of Solidarity

Research Assistant Kyle Kootswaytewa of the Institute of American Indian Arts examines a crop of black tomatoes at their Demonstration Garden. The garden provides an outdoor learning space while displaying and promoting indigenous agricultural methods for food and medicine crops. Local tribe members, students, and faculty designed and maintain the Demonstration Garden. This photo is in the public domain.

Statement of Solidarity from Four Season Foraging Founder Maria Wesserle

Today marks the two month date since the tragic murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. A lot has happened in this time—a community uprising against police terror, divestments from the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), the removal of cops from Minneapolis Public Schools, the tearing down of racist and colonialist monuments, and pledges by the Minneapolis City Council to defund the police. Corporations are now even paying lip service to the movement for the defense of black lives.

However, we still await justice for the ruthless killing of George Floyd; while fired police officer Derek Chauvin and his three accomplices Thomas Kiernan Lane, Alexander Kueng, and Tou Nmn Thao have been charged, their court dates are still many months off. Moreover, white supremacy and anti-blackness continue to persist in spite of renewed efforts to undo them. These are deeply entrenched systems that stretch back centuries, and dismantling them will require years of commitment—even after corporate America has moved on to the “next big thing.”

As a mixed person who lives along the double-edged sword of white privilege, I know in my bones that people who are white and read as white need to step up and put in the work of taking down these oppressive systems. I do so in a small way with Four Season Foraging—knowing that healthy food systems are integral to maintaining healthy communities, and that food sovereignty is an essential piece of cultural autonomy.

To that end, this month I am pledging a monetary donation to Divine Natural Ancestry (DNA), a collective that “grows and heals through the land, provides free produce and medicine to Twin Cities Communities, and builds community through food shares, healing events, and free community dinners.” DNA “demands reparations and rematriation of the land to the people of the first nations, descendants of people enslaved in the trans-atlantic slave trade, and people across the world where white supremacy and genocide has destroyed the natural rhythm of life.” They “are on the frontlines fighting for Black life, Indigenous life, Brown life, for our ancestors.”

I will continue to make monthly donations to local groups that fight for the dignity of black lives, organize to defund the MPD, and/or work to end the racist and classist system of incarceration in the United States. If you have suggestions on groups to fund, please feel free to send me a direct message or email me at info@fourseasonforaging.com. Thank you.

In Solidarity,

Maria