{"id":159945,"date":"2024-01-19T08:37:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T13:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=159945"},"modified":"2024-01-22T11:49:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T16:49:07","slug":"mlk-day-keynote-calls-food-justice-one-of-the-most-important-movements-of-the-21st-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2024\/01\/19\/mlk-day-keynote-calls-food-justice-one-of-the-most-important-movements-of-the-21st-century\/","title":{"rendered":"Bates MLK Day keynote: Food justice is ‘one of the most important movements of the 21st century’\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Wearing an apron and standing at a lectern beside a table full of mixing bowls and vegetables, Bryant Terry showed the crowd gathered in Gomes Chapel on Martin Luther King Jr. Day just how communal, joyful, and personal food is to him by opening his keynote address with a soulful rendition of the song his grandmother sang while cooking in her kitchen in Memphis, Tenn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGlory, glory. Hallelujah. When I lay my burden down, burden down. No more Monday, no more Tuesday, when I lay my burden down,\u201d Terry sang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Moments
Activist, author, and chef Bryant Terry begins his Bates Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote address on Jan. 15, 2024, in Gomes Chapel. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An artist, author, activist, and award-winning chef, Terry delivered the Bates MLK Day keynote address on Monday, tying together the problem of food injustice today with the history of Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s fight against systemic racism during the Civil Rights Movement more than 60 years ago. Along the way, Terry spiced his talk with personal stories and, as a dessert of sorts, ended his presentation with a live cooking demonstration of one of his vegan recipes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Garry W. Jenkins first greeted the more than 200 gathered at the observance, explaining that while this year\u2019s Bates MLK Day theme of food justice is a modern-day concern, it is one of many injustices King fought to correct before his life was cut short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDr. King himself was explicitly focused on the issue of food justice,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cSpeaking in Montgomery, Ala., in 1965 he said, \u2018Let us march on poverty until no American parent has to skip a meal so that their child may eat.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monday,
President Garry W. Jenkins opens the MLK Day of observance welcoming the Bates community gathered in Gomes Chapel for the keynote address on Jan. 15, 2024. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Offering further evidence how King raised awareness about the stark inequalities in the American food system, Jenkins quoted from King\u2019s 1960 speech at Spelman College where King said: \u201cI do believe that in America we must use our vast resources of wealth to bridge the gulf between abject, deadening poverty, and superfluous inordinate wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phoebe Stern \u201924 of Nashville, Tenn., one of  the student representatives on the Bates MLK Day planning committee, briefly spoke about the prevalent inequalities in food systems today. And Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tyler Harper, the committee\u2019s co-chair, thanked the committee for its work and reinforced the connection between King and food justice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describing King\u2019s speech from when he accepted the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, Harper noted the continuing relevance of King\u2019s message, that \u201ceven as our politics feel fraught and perhaps broken, we must not lose sight of the most basic political question of who has food and who does not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then after the MLK Day Keynote speaker greeted the crowd with his grandma\u2019s song, Terry shared with energy, humor, and personal anecdotes how his life\u2019s work came to focus on the fight for healthier, more equitable, and more sustainable food systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Moments
The crowd in Gomes Chapel listens, laughs, and erupts in applause as keynote speaker Bryant Terry sprinkles personal stories and humor into his presentation. (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The James Beard Award\u2013winning chef added with some mirth that in his early days as a food justice activist he was \u201cthe most self-righteous, dogmatic, judgmental, vegan that you\u2019ve ever encountered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don’t know if you guys have ever dealt with someone who has a vegan diet, and they are the most self-righteous, finger wagging nanny. That was me, and I apologized to my parents almost every week for putting them through hell for several years because of my zeal.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a more serious note, Terry explained how, just as King did, he came to champion the idea that healthy food should be a fundamental human right. The fact that marginalized communities in the United States have less access to healthy, more sustainable food systems, he said, has resulted in food apartheid in our country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monday,

Bryant Terry displays a famous photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy wearing denim work pants and work shirts when they were arrested in Birmingham, Ala., in April 1963. Terry explained how King eshewed tailored suits when he protesting in the South to better connect with everyday people. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Terry explained that he specifically chose the term \u201cfood apartheid\u201d rather than the more familiar term \u201cfood desert.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe word desert almost makes these \u201ceconomic, physical, geographic barriers that many communities face seem natural. But \u2018food apartheid\u2019 refers to the systemic and structural inequalities in the food system resulting in some communities having limited access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food while others have more abundant access,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His love of cooking came from his grandparents in Memphis, Tenn., who Terry said used their example of scratch baking and farming to teach him the ideals of \u201cself-determination, practice of generosity, community care and the mutual aid to meet the immediate needs of neighbors and the wider community.\u201d These early life lessons instilled in him a desire for healthier food systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

View the full Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote gathering in Gomes Chapel on Jan. 15, 2024<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/lite-youtube>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy maternal grandmother kept a cupboard in her kitchen that was about 7 feet tall and a foot deep,\u201d he said. \u201cEach shelf crowded with glass jars full of preserves, pickle, pears, peaches, carrots and green beans, figs, blackberry jam, sauerkraut, and her not to be forgotten: chow, chow \u2014 cabbage, onions, peppers, chopped finely cooked for about five hours and served as a relish along with leafy greens such as collards, mustards, turnips, kale, dandelions. Listen, my grandmother could work magic in the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His activism took root in culinary school in New York City, at the Natural Gourmet Institute, where he worked to empower young people in neighborhoods affected by food apartheid by teaching them culinary skills and training them in advocacy work. \u201cOur aim was to empower these youth to resist the influence of these corporations and make healthier choices,\u201d Terry said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 2001, Terry said he started advocating more strongly for food justice within marginalized communities after he first attended gatherings aimed at addressing the problem and looked around at those attending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monday,
A young visitor, Matthew Gordon, age 12, listens to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2024 keynote speaker, Bryant Terry, in Gomes Chapel on Jan. 15, 2024. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College) l<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“These gatherings were predominantly attended by privileged white people, and those who suffered the most from our flawed food system were often absent from the discussions.” He also noticed educational and class biases within the gatherings, and felt those impacted the most by injustices in food systems should have been leading the discussions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The conversations often initiated with discussions of public policy and high level intellectual concepts, yet they lack the essential elements of art, culture and a focus on community,” Terry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His journey in activism at that time spawned his personal mantra \u2014 that he repeats to this day: \u201cStart with the visceral to ignite the cerebral and end with the political.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monday,
Audience members in Gomes Chapel listen as the 2024 MLK Day keynote speaker Bryant Terry delivered his keynote through words, song, photos, hip hop music, and, finally, a food demonstration. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While he found inspiration everywhere \u2014  in art, music, and literature, including some of the hip hop music he played for those gathered in Gomes \u2014 Terry said that two creative works, published 85 years apart, inspired his path forward. One was Upton Sinclair\u2019s expose of the Chicago meat-packing industry, The Jungle<\/em>. The other was \u201cBeef\u201d by Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One in 1990. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSurprisingly, it wasn’t a scholarly monograph or a lofty intellectual lecture that profoundly reshaped my habits, attitudes, and political views concerning food. It was a song and a novel,\u201d <\/strong>Terry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a graduate student at New York University in the early 2000s, Terry researched the \u201cmethods of resistance employed by the Black working class in the 20th century to combat capitalism and white supremacy,\u201d such as protests and slowdowns in work places that were used as forms of resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Monday,
MLK Day keynote speaker Bryant Terry greets Associate Professor of American Studies Myron Beasley following Terry’s presentation on Jan. 15, 2024. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Yet, Terry said, he came to advocate for food justice by embracing a simpler approach, such as foraging, cooking, and breaking bread together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile the food justice movement engages in organized forms of resistance, I believe it\u2019s equally vital to recognize and celebrate seemingly apolitical acts such as growing food, preparing meals from scratch, and fostering community around our dining tables as profoundly political, dare I say, radical acts of resistance,\u201d Terry said. \u201cI celebrate these everyday acts of resistance and view them as accessible entry points into the food justice movement for everyday people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terry closed his keynote address demonstrating his most favorite everyday act of resistance to food apartheid: A 25-minute cooking demonstration in which he encouraged novices, assuaged cooking fears, and served up humorous stories about spices, tofu, and the pleasure of a communal feast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he finished preparing the curry dish from his Afro-Vegan <\/em>cookbook, Terry thanked the Bates crowd for joining him on his \u201cintellectual and creative journey,\u201d Then he asked those gathered to consider finding their own accessible entry points to the fight for food justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
In addition to organized efforts for food justice, “it\u2019s equally vital to recognize and celebrate seemingly apolitical acts such as growing food, preparing meals from scratch, and fostering community around our dining tables,” said Bryant Terry, shown during the cooking demonstration part of his MLK Day keynote on Jan. 15, 2024. (Carly Philpott ’27 for Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think whatever talents and skills we could bring to bring us to a tipping point, we should bring those,\u201d Terry said. \u201cYou need chefs, you need designers, you need scholars, you need journalists. We need all hands on deck to really work toward what I would argue is one of the most important movements of the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His closing remarks were met with a rousing standing ovation from the Gomes audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associate Dean for International Student Programs James Reese closed the keynote asking the crowd to thank Terry again and encouraging them to go forth and enjoy the day full of workshops, and, importantly, bear in mind that King was mentored by one of Bates\u2019 own: the Rev. Benjamin Elijah Mays \u201920, longtime president of Morehouse College, and remembered as \u201cthe schoolmaster\u201d of the Civil Rights Movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MLK Day keynote Bryant Terry, an artist, author, chef, and activist, says Martin Luther King Jr’s fight against food apartheid is still relevant today. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1705,"featured_media":160102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":160125,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,243,30,130,133,232,175],"tags":[3604,5709],"class_list":["post-159945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-annual-events","category-civic-engagement","category-collaboration","category-creativity","category-environment-sustainability","category-justice-poverty","tag-food-justice","tag-martin-luther-king-jr-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1705"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159945"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160127,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159945\/revisions\/160127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}