Peace everyone,

I hope everyone has been able to have strong community around them in these times. There's a lot going on and it's easy to feel overwhelmed, but holding reality together with mutual care of loved ones makes it all the more manageable.

If you remember from last month we talked about our board retreat in Savannah and our amazing new board members! But one thing that wasn't mentioned (unless you've been checking out our social media!) was the Leadership Gathering we hosted just before the retreat. For this 2-day gathering, we invited a small group of Black and Native fisherpeople together to share space, connect, and collaboratively vision the world we are striving for.

Every year there are many events that bring people together for particular purposes and particular skillsharing or some other, often great, reason. Every now and then though, it's crucial to take a moment to pause and ground in our hopes for the future, and doing so with folks who are most deeply tied to the need for that hope is important.

Anyone struggling to create community-based systems to feed their people is fighting an uphill fight and is deserving of so much love and respect. However, for Black and Native folks, they are particularly targeted through so many methods and systems that seek to destroy and erase any circles of people in this struggle for community care.

It's incredibly powerful to share the stories of the resilience needed in the face of powers seeking to dismantle, but there's a different energy in a space when everyone in the room is already grounded in that reality. Experiencing the emotions as folks came to realize how much power they themselves truly have and realize how much power we could be building together was an experience I'm not going to be forgetting anytime soon. This gathering also will not be the last of this kind, there are so many other incredible Black or Indigenous leaders in our circles we didn't get to connect with this past April.

As a Black man, a mantra that has always been a simple, grounding reminder of hope is 'We still here.' A simple nod to the immense strength of Africans to survive through this history that has constantly tried to own us and erase us if we don't comply. Being in spaces like this leadership gathering for me was not only a reminder that 'We still here,' but the fire of care and love that has gotten here is alive and well and burning ever bright.

In so many different directions, there is a lot of reason for hopelessness right now, but I hope these reflections are a snapshot of hope that gives you all the reminder that hope is always one loving neighbor away from you and the only way the struggle ends is if we let it die in our hearts.

In the words of Fred Hampton, Peace to those willing to fight for it,
Jon Russell
Food Justice Organizer

In This Issue
It’s the Fishers’ Fault?
Atlas for Values Based Aquaculture
Native Farm Bill Coalition: An Interview with Buck Jones
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