Magic City Agriculture Project Points the Way Ahead with Practical Solutions for Poverty and Gentrification

Magic City Agriculture Project (MCAP) Points the Way Ahead with Practical Solutions for Poverty and Gentrification Birmingham, Alabama - The City Council and Mayor squabble for power and debate whether the Mayor-Council Act is due to be amended, while the People of Birmingham are searching for answers to the questions of poverty and gentrification. At the core of the Mayor-Council Act debate is a proposal to transfer power from the Birmingham City Council to the mayor. Proponents claim the amendments are necessary to protect and promote the executive authority of the mayor’s office, while objectors state the proposal will cause undue harm to the City government and eliminate necessary checks and balances. The current debate shows that the People of Birmingham are seeking practical solutions, not more political grandstanding. The promotion and establishment of locally controlled political and economic institutions changes clearly needed, and Magic City Agriculture Project is poised to provide solutions to these seemingly enigmatic issues of poverty and gentrification plaguing Birmingham. Over the previous two years, MCAP has collaborated to establish a 10-year strategic plan for addressing racial and economic disparities through developing a large-scale democratic economy and local sustainable food system across Greater Birmingham. MCAP’s strategic plan focuses around the creation of four anchor institutions for creating a grassroots-controlled, democratic economy. Three of these institutions are included in City of Birmingham's comprehensive plan or in the subsequent framework plans. They represent the requirements for a functioning economy - land, labor, and capital. MCAP’s plan only costs a fraction of what the city has spent on downtown. The Components of MCAP’s plan: Education: Birmingham Institute for Social Change. BISC is an anti-racist and community organizing training housed within MCAP. Labor: MCAP wants to start a cooperative training center. Cooperatives are worker-owned businesses that keep wealth in the hands of employees. Aquaponics is a highly productive agricultural production system able to sustain a profitable business. The cooperative training center will educate on business practices, cooperative economic principles, and aquaponics agricultural production. After training, apprentices will start their own firms, independent from MCAP. Capital: Community Enterprise Zones in partnership with the City of Birmingham. CEZs have two parts - $10 million in capitalization for a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), and a tiered job credit plan that favors democratized businesses. The zone will encompass an area of 50,000 low-income people within Birmingham. A CDFI is essentially a bank that does micro-lending for the purpose of community development. (Micro-lending was developed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammed Yunus in Bangladesh as a form of economic development for the poor.) A majority of the board of the CDFI will include residents from the CEZ. Land: Community Land Trusts for low-income homeownership and land use planning. The key feature of a CLT is dual ownership. The trust owns the grounds upon which a house or business sits, and the homeowner or business owners owns the improvements on those grounds. Representatives from home and business owners control the CLT allowing them to collectively make land use decisions for their communities.                                                                                     Each institution will be an independent entity and controlled by community members. MCAP supports the self-determination of the institutions by serving in an advisory capacity while they are in the startup stage, and by assisting communities through education, information, training, and connections to resources. MCAP members may serve as board members of these community institutions, especially on Advisory Boards, but only by invitation, and never to be the majority or in control of the institution. Magic City Agriculture Project's mission is to engage in value-based community organizing to reweave the threads of the community, develop sustainable urban agriculture as a solution for economic and food justice, and to dismantle racism. ###

Shelby and Cystic Fibrosis

I have a chronic illness called cystic fibrosis. As a result, two weeks ago I was admitted into UAB's Spain Wallace Hospital for an exacerbation of a cystic fibrosis related lung infection. During this time I have been receiving IV antibiotics. Today, February 20th, is my last day for this particular admission. While finishing my last treatment I was watching YouTube videos. Before one video started YouTube showed me a campaign add for Senator Richard Shelby. The add was a white middle class Alabama mother who had a child with cystic fibrosis telling me how much Senator Shelby has done for children with CF. As a CF patient this greatly bothered me.

Last I heard he keeps voting against the Affordable Health Care Act (ObamaCare), which, without that act, I, a 26 year old with cystic fibrosis, could not have a private health insurance plan due to a preexisting condition. Additionally, last I heard he is fighting against medicaid expansion in the state which is VITAL for low-income cystic fibrosis patients.

Not to mention, where is he in scolding Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama who has not only canceled their platinum plan, which I had last year, but has also stopped covering two FDA approved drugs for no reason that are vital to cystic fibrosis patients daily health. The next best health insurance plan, Gold, increases all of my out of pocket expenses by 100%, and the monthly premium is the same as the platinum plan was. Where is Richard Shelby in putting legislation forward to decrease pharmaceutical prices? If y'all saw the profit margin of some of these cystic fibrosis medicines you would faint.

Last I checked he votes against any environmental reform, meanwhile Birmingham is ranked in the top 10 in the nation in air pollution. Meanwhile my doctors tell me that up to 20% of the health problems in my lungs could be related to the air pollution in Birmingham.

Where does he stand on increasing and expanding disability welfare? Without an expansion of that many low income cystic fibrosis patients who can't work can't get the resources they need to buy groceries or housing.

Senator Richard Shelby is hurting people with cystic fibrosis every day with his policies. Richard Shelby is killing cystic fibrosis patients with his policies. Richard Shelby's policies are killing me!

‪#‎RevolutionNow‬ ‪#‎NoJusticeNoPeace‬

MCAP and East Thomas Residents Collaborate to Create Dynamite Hill-Smithfield Community Land Trust

Magic City Agriculture Project and East Thomas Residents Collaborate to Create
Dynamite Hill - Smithfield Community Land Trust

Birmingham, Ala. – On Tuesday, September 15th, Birmingham, Alabama mourned the death of six black children - four young girls and two young boys – who died in bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church and subsequent aftermath. Birmingham’s history of systematic attacks and bombings on black citizens include fifty bombings between 1947 and 1966, largely occurring in the neighborhood of East Thomas, or “Dynamite Hill.” East Thomas and other Smithfield Neighborhoods were built as middle-class black neighborhoods, and are home to the family residence of Angela Davis, an internationally known human rights activist, an iconic leader in the black liberation movement, and Professor Emerita at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

In 2005, upon moving to the East Thomas Neighborhood in the Smithfield Community of Birmingham, Susan Diane Mitchell, a 24-year resident of Birmingham, educated herself on the historicity of the area. She became inspired by the legacy of resistance and self-determination of the residents of “Dynamite Hill.” In 2015, Susan decided to form the Dynamite Hill – Smithfield Community Land Trust in honor of the bravery of the black families who defended their homes and resisted the egregious oppressions of the Bull Connor era. The land trust would also serve as a community effort to resist gentrification and preserve the cultural integrity of the Smithfield Community.

In May 2015, the Regional Planning Commission and City Council approved the Western Area Framework Plan, which includes the community of Smithfield. In this plan, Magic City Agriculture Project (MCAP) was listed as a partner organization to help communities develop Community Land Trusts (CLTs) to develop low-income homeownership programs and create affordable land options for community-based businesses. The Dynamite Hill – Smithfield Community Land Trust would be historic, as it would be the first CLT in the Birmingham Area.

MCAP has created a crowdfunding campaign funding the launch of the Dynamite Hill CLT, which will raise $9,000 by November 9, 2015. This money will be used to purchase the Dynamite Hill CLT’s first plot of land. They will also use the funds to send two East Thomas community members to the National Community Land Trust Network training. The NCLTN is a resource providing research, advocacy, education, and support for CLTs, which is hosting an annual workshop this fall in Lexington, Kentucky, site of one of the most successful land trusts in the nation.

Susan Diane Mitchell urges Birmingham to support the crowdfunding effort: “Be a part of history by giving today! Together, we are creating a democratic and sustainable Birmingham, now.”

**September 28th announcement on Alabama Public Radio.**

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Magic City Agriculture Project's mission is to engage in value-based community organizing to reweave the threads of the community, develop sustainable urban agriculture as a solution for economic and food justice, and to dismantle racism.

Smithfield State of Emergency: Organizing Against Gentrification

This is a state of emergency. After going to pick up my comrade in Smithfield today I got another shock to the heart. They are moving to gentrify Smithfield faster than I expected. They are not playing. This is not cute. This is not funny. This is colonialism.

We cannot combat this by simply having "white and black keys organizing together." Why? Because if we did, if we bring white people into Smithfield, it will only expedite the gentrification process of the community. We cannot be inviting masses of white folks into a poor black community and think that is a good organizing strategy.

White folks need to organize and fundraise from white folks. Brown folks need to organize and fundraise from brown folks. Black folks need to organize and fundraise from black folks. The black, white, and brown organizers should be the ones working and strategizing together to create one organized cohesive strategy, so when they go back to their own community they can be clear of what they need to be organizing and fundraising for.

Let me repeat, white folks, except for the lead organizers in appropriate ways and times, should not be in the black and brown communities. They should be in white communities organizing and fundraising from white folks to give to poor communities and black and brown communities around anti-racist and anti-capitalist strategies.

This is not a game. This is a state of emergency. This is colonialism, and colonialism is a war. We need to treat it as such. We need to be as intentional organizing for peace as those organizing for war. Gentrification is war. Poverty is genocide. We need to organize and stop this.

The Miseducation of July 4th (from an ancestor of a founding father)

239 years ago my ancestor, William Blount, started recruiting for the "American Revolution" to end Britain's colonialization of what we now call the USA. He was also a paymaster and fought in a few battles himself. 13 years later he became one of the 39 people to sign the US Constitution. He knew all of the founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Additionally, Andrew "Indian Killer" Jackson was one of his closest, most trusted allies. Amongst other political offices he held during his life, President George Washington appointed Blount Governor of the Southwest Territory in 1790.

But what all does this mean? For starters it means he helped negotiate the 3/5th compromise. As a representative for North Carolina this meant that he advocated for a slave to count in the census as more than 3/5th a person. Of course, this was not because he cared about black folks. The south had a higher concentration of slaves, so the higher the ratio the more power the south held in the new Federal Government. This type of negation to me shows exactly how little they cared about black folks. They were nothing but pawns for controlling power and wealth to white folks. This also means he helped write a document saying women could not vote or own property. It also means he helped intentionally craft a document to keep all poor folks from having the right to vote (because you could not vote unless you owned land).

He had a lot of self-interest in making sure only rich white male land-owners could vote. In part because he was known as an aggressive land speculator, and owned over 2.5 million acres of [stolen Indigenous] land to the west of the Appalachian Mountains by the 1790's. Under his watch, as Governor of the Southwest Territory, his administration, which included Andrew Jackson, was involved with various battles and treaties to steal Indigenous people's land and perpetuate genocide against the Indigenous.

This is the same Blount that Blount County, TN is named after, and Blount County, Alabama is named after his half-brother, who was a part of William's Administration in the Southwest Territory.

I have no intention in celebrating my ancestor William Blount's legacy today, July 4th, or any of the other people involved in this legacy that today represents.

The Flaw in "Teach a Man How to Fish"

The saying goes, "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish, feed him for a lifetime." Though this is very incomplete, and thus needs to be edited.

Do they own their own fishing pole? Do they have communal ownership over the watering hole? Until those questions are addressed the knowledge of knowing how to fish is rendered useless.

We can address this through organizing democratic community based institutions. This includes, but is not limited to, cooperatives and community land trusts.

‪#‎DemocraticEconomies‬ ‪#‎FreeTheLand‬ ‪#‎FoodSovereignty‬

Poetic Justice: The Unspoken Pain Behind Mother’s Day

Poetic Justice: The Unspoken Pain Behind Mother’s Day

To the Children whose Mothers have died

Whose mothers were alcoholics and addicts

Whose mothers ran away or were abusive

Whose mothers truly cared but didn’t know how to mother

Whose mothers were negligent or just not always there for you

To the Mothers who became a mother due to rape

To mothers whose children lashed out because their father died or ran away

To mothers who were not ready to be a mother

To mothers whose spouse was physically, verbally, or sexual abusive

To mothers who were scared to be a mother because their parents were never

there, or were abusive

To the Women who wanted to be a mother, but never got the chance

To the women who are told they are not allowed to be a mother because they are

queer

To the women who had miscarriages or are living with the grief of aborting their

child

To the women who are told their self worth is solely based in bearing children

To the women who had to make the difficult decision to put their child up for

adoption

To the women who endure the hardships of patriarchy

To the women who rise up with strength in the face of adversity

To the black and brown women who have undergone racist forced sterilizations

Who fight against our patriarchal and racist unjust wars, and for better public health

Who bleed for freedom, justice, and democracy, and are willing to die fighting for revolution

To women and mothers who are the bearers of life in this world

To women and mothers who have All raised or mentored societies children in one

way or another

To the children who are in pain due to the loss of their mother

To the women, children, and mothers who come from broken homes

To the fathers or grandparents who raised children without a mother

To peace, to love, and to Justice. Solidarity.