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JUSTICE: Welcome to your audio companion formed in support of access and in the spirit of community. I’m Justice Shorter. And you’re listening to the Disaster Justice Guidebook for People of Color with disabilities.
Each companion is comprised of remarkable reflections and recommendations gathered from interviews with incredible People of Color. This creative collaboration is brought to you by Seeded Ground, the Adult Advocacy Centers in 1217 compound. May this offering be a salve and a sought-out source of solidarity for all those most impacted by disasters in crisis.
This particular companion is guided by insights from Washieka Torres. Washieka is a disability rights activist from the South Bronx. And her work focuses on food sovereignty for disabled people. I should warn you now, every time I hear Washieka, I get riled up because she always says something that makes my mind move and my spirit soar. Here’s Washieka kicking us off with her thoughts on the connection between disaster justice and food justice.
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WASHIEKA: Generally, there’s an intimate connection in both directions. So, when we’re talking about food justice and the need for food justice or food sovereignty, that comes from many food crisis, whether we’re talking about weather-related crisis. So, for instance, the wildfires in California are causing a lot of conversations and speculations about food shortages, right.
And a food shortage is generally going to impact the most vulnerable populations, right. So, those who are seeking food justice have suffered other injustices, right. And food is one of them. And lack of access to proper nutrition and lack of access to any form of nutrition is one of those, right.
And it creates another crisis, right, where these food shortages may be creating crisis in other systems that are, that aren’t directly related to food, but directly connected to food. So, people being able to focus or work or take medication and be healthy. That is not necessarily the, food may not be the sole reason for that particular crisis, but it is one of the contributing factors, right.
Then you have other crisis that may or may not be exactly related to food, such as war, right. So some wars, they have wars around food and food access. But most wars create a crisis around food as well as other deficits of other needs such as like housing and safety and security. So, those two things have been intimately linked in many ways.
And politically, even if we’re talking about in the realm of politics, or lack of politics, there are policies around food or, you know, giving people access or restricting access to food, that will cause a crisis in a neighborhood or a home. So, those two impact one another.
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JUSTICE: When it comes to disaster justice, Washieka reminds us that learning from the past can transform how we live in the present and how we prepare for the future.
WASHIEKA: I think one of the most important things is if we are, one thing I think that most people don’t understand, is that we need to learn from our ancestors, right, not just our direct relatives, but those who came before us, because, many crisis that are happening now, have happened before, right. Many crisis are not new. So, ones related to flooding or heat or, you know, fires or things in terms of infrastructure that are impacting how food is moving across cities, states, countries.
We’ve had that happen before, so it’s looking back at, okay, who came before us and what have they done, right. How do we prepare in that way? So, in terms of food, thinking about, okay, what kinds of foods can I have?
What kinds of foods can I store? What is perishable? What is nonperishable? And also, what is nutritious, right? For instance, frozen foods, right, although most people, if you cannot have access, if you don’t have access to fresh foods, right, frozen foods are another good option because they’re frozen at the height of, you know, their sweetness, their ripeness and keeping those.
Do you have the capacity to store certain things? Can you store dry goods? Can you store nonperishables? And if you don’t, what is your capacity, right? But it’s not just your personal capacity, we need to remember, we are communal. We are a communal people. What can we all do for one another? And how can we help one another get through a crisis together?
So, for me, when I’m thinking about that, I’m like I have a deep freezer, right. It was a gift to me, so now I know if I have to freeze things, like when I’m not feeling well, any groceries I buy, go directly into the freezer. Because I don’t know if, you know, next week or the week after I’m gonna have the any money or any resources to even be able to get food, right.
Not including being able to cook anything, but even to be able to get food, so I’ll put it in my freezer. Or if I have something canned, I have the date, okay, when can I use this? Can I use this dry good? Can I use that? What is the expiration date? And how do you tell if something is off even if it’s technically not expired yet?
So, what is your capacity? What can your community do? There have been people in my community, they know, for instance, I don’t eat pork, right, but they have other resources. They’re like, oh, well, I got this box, and it has all these vegetables and these things. And I don’t eat these things.
Or if my neighbor needs something and I know that they’re in consistent need of something and I can buy it in bulk, okay, well, I know that I can give that to you. That’s part of the kind of planning. It’s what do you have, right. And then what can you, what is your own capacity and what is your communal capacity? Cause, again, we’re a communal people.
And then when we see these crisis hit, okay, what have our ancestors and what have people done? So, for instance, I have a water purifier, right, in case the water, something is wrong with the water, which has happened, right, and there was a time when we didn’t have water at all and our, people, the landlord company, managers or whatever didn’t tell us that the water was shut off.
So, I had to get water. And when I went to get water, as I was going down the stairs, I realized my neighbors didn’t have water either. So, I had the capacity to go out to the corner store, get water. I brought some for them. I brought some for myself, right.
So, that’s the thing. Thinking through those things and if we’re thinking about, for instance, there was a lot of flooding and a lot of flooding happens in people’s basements, things get flooded. And it’s like, what can you do to help people, and what can you do to reach out for one another?
Also, what are the resources to you that are and are not accessible, right. And if they’re accessible, for instance, are they accessible to a neighbor of yours, but not to you, and you can share in the work and resource sharing of what you need.
So, I think that’s a big thing. I always look to, okay, what have people before me done? How did they not only survive, but thrive, and build and rebuild communally with one another through these crisis, through these disasters. And kind of building that plan, not just with your family, but with your neighbors as well.
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JUSTICE: If we are truly to root ourselves in a space of justice and equity, then we must be ready to reform a protest to resource distribution. Washieka calls us to reexamine this issue, not just related to distance, but also in terms of access.
WASHIEKA: Part is so because of the abysmal infrastructure and upkeep of infrastructure in a lot of neighborhoods of color, many of those areas are not very accessible to begin with, right. For instance, if you look at the sidewalks, some will or will not have curb cuts. Are they walkable? Like I will see people who will go in the street because the streets will get repaved. The streets will get retarred and relayed and all this other stuff, but the sidewalks won’t.
And so, the barriers that is causing someone, having one not in your neighborhood. Alright, let’s talk about that, if the need is in these neighborhoods, then why are the resources not there? Why are they in a neighborhood where you do have to travel, right.
And if people, like people with disabilities are not new, right. Disabilities is not new. So, there is an awareness of disability and then the question then becomes, then why is the organization not thinking of those people, right. Like why are you not thinking across, well this person, if they need it, they’ll really come and get it. What if they can’t.
That’s some of the work that I also talk about. Like what if a food desert is not just about distance but access? What if there’s a store across the street that has all my needs, but it has sets of stairs or does not provide assistance cause there are number of stores that are primarily self-serve, right. Like it’s cheaper for the store to have, you know, people do, you know, their own things, self-serve pretty much the whole way. What if you need assistance; what happens then?
And so, the problems around those areas, and one of the ways to ameliorate those, right, is to have open communications with those organizations. And to post on their social media. Ask them those questions where it’s not just the organization that can see that, but others are seeing that as well. And you ask them, okay, what services do you have for people with disabilities, or certain disabilities? So, if I have this particular disability, I will need this assistance.
Do you offer that or is that something I have to call for? Is that a guarantee? Or are you just going to try? Another thing that I have been really invested in is services that do deliver, right. So, there are some places here that do have a delivery service or they can assist with delivery, or if you need to pick something up. But those are the things that, the question is, you know, can you do that; and if you can, why aren’t you advertising that, right?
So, there’s some food pantries that are easy to get to, because they are along a bus line or a train line. And the bus and the train station are accessible. But there are many others who aren’t, right. So, some, for instance, the south side of Chicago is primarily connected by buses. And the buses are generally, you know, accessible, usually not a problem. But when you get to the sidewalk, what do I do, right?
If you let me off on the sidewalk and the sidewalk is all broken up, how am I going to get to this place? Or if this place has stairs and I wasn’t told this place had stairs or something like that. So, one of the things that I do is, right, if I have a question, I will not just ask the organization privately. I will ask them on social media. And if you know, these are the resources, how are you accommodating those who need them?
All of the people who need them. Not just some of the people who need them. And so, sometimes there will be mobile services for food pantries. Sometimes they will have delivery services, but also if they don’t, that’s something that I note and make a note of. And if I’m in a group of people with disabilities, I will say, well, if you need this resource, you should go here and not there, right. And then, you know, hopefully, that does. And sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t elicit a change in how people are operating.
Like, for instance, how, when the pandemic hit, there weren’t, it was just like, oh, everyone should mask all the time, but there wasn’t a time for people, for instance, now, at the time there were times when people with disabilities could be like early in the morning when the store was first cleaned, you could get assistance. I think it was like for one or two hours. You go to the store. You get assistance with groceries. Everything was clean. If you were immunocompromised, or anything you needed, you could get the full attention and assistance of the staff, right.
And although that should have been expanded, right, and we had other things that could have been better. That was something that came from people saying, I need this. This needs to be provided. This is a health and safety issue as well. You need to think about more than just everybody who’s masking. Think about the specifics of people. So, I think that’s one way of kind of getting those people’s attention through social media and spreading information as much as possible.
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JUSTICE: Historically, so many of our communities have been deprioritized regarding vital resources such as clean water and food. Here Washieka explains how truly dangerous this level of resource deprivation can be for People of Color with disabilities.
WASHIEKA: I, to put it very simply, I think it’s a form of violence. I have always believed that, for instance, starving people and not allowing access to food, food and water, those things are human rights. To deprive a person of those is violence, right. It is a form of violence and whether people, I mean there’s some people who are going to agree and some people who don’t.
And I’ve always believed that because, um, we are in a system, right. Especially if we’re thinking about this community. But we are in a system of false scarcity, right, which means that people are made to believe that certain resources are scarce and they are not, right.
We have the capacity within our budgets and with infrastructure plans, there are people who get degrees in all different types of infrastructure planning; urban, suburban, metropolitan, rural, right. These things are planned out. Cities are planned out, right.
The fact that in this area — in this era where we have abundance, right, where we have more homes vacant than homeless people. In an era where we have the ability to get water and food and build places where people need them for food and water and zone for those places. Or we have places, right, that can provide fresh food and water but we’re giving them to certain types of stores, like corporations and franchises that don’t actually promote food and water health.
Like Dollar General’s a famous one. Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, they offer no fresh food, but they are there, right, because they are able to, you know, instead of having an independent grocer there, you’ll have something like that.
Or, for instance, when Walmart moved in, right, and they beat out all the competition around them with their artificially low prices, and then they leave. There have been a number of them that have now left neighborhoods in food deserts. Aldi did the same thing in West Garfield. So, the thing is, these things are, they are not just vital, but they are an intentional form of violence. You can do better. There are the resources.
We are not in — the scarcity mindset is false because we have more than we need. We have more than enough, not just here, but globally. We have more than enough, but because of the system we are in, and however you want to classify that system, because of the systems we are in and the systems we are going through, right, people will use those mechanisms to create this false scarcity to have people move out of certain areas and to have people be able to buy land, people who are not from that area or in that neighborhood, buy areas and land really cheaply, right.
So, we’re talking about, if we’re talking about forms of gentrification versus community development. And now community development, obviously, people who are from the community who are investing in building their community up, and that’s much slower. It’s a much slower process. And it doesn’t have the same governmental or legislative support as like, for instance, developers coming in and saying, oh, well, we’ll fix this property up, we’ll fix these things, and then the city will start to care because they are doing certain development things.
It will turn into a higher end area and pushing those people out and getting people out is a form of violence. And this is not — it is, to me, in the same category of violence as when you have homeless encampments and business owners, and other people like we need to get these homeless people out of here, right. And then the city just throws their belongings in a dumpster. They throw them away. They scatter them and where are they going to go? There’s no solution, right. It’s just kind of moving the problem around.
And again, that’s a form of violence, but so is this, right. You know these areas are a problem, right. People have complained for not only decades but generations of there being issues with access to add adequate infrastructure for waste management. Adequate infrastructure for water and water testing.
Adequate infrastructure for food and grocery stories and proper housing and all of these things that need to be made accessible and available to people and affordable. And it’s consistently ignored every legislative session. And when that continues to happen, whether we’re talking about your local city council, or aldermans, whatever, up to the, you know, the governor and president, all these other things, those things, they are intentionally done. I classify those as acts of violence.
And that is an act of violence against many communities, particularly communities of color who have already dealt with other forms of physical violence, environmental racism and these other forms.
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JUSTICE: As you probably gathered by now, we put People of Color with disabilities as our point of center. This includes when discussing community-led initiatives like neighborhood gardens or urban farming collectives, which certainly help to address key problems, right, such as food deserts, but often these solutions aren’t structured or designed to include disabled body lines.
WASHIEKA: I think one, and that’s something I have looked into, by looking at various community gardens, and there’s a number of issues that I’ve seen in community gardens where some are not, are they really for the community is what I wondered. I have asked people this, who do you think is in your community? Who are the people that make up your community?
Do you think of all the people in your community when you’re thinking about the community? And it’s not just about, for instance, the burden, so what do people say; why don’t you show up to meetings? Well, are these meetings accessible, right? You can have a community meeting in a town hall, if it’s not accessible to everyone or as many people as possible, or you are not sharing that information, then how are people going to know?
But there’s a community garden, or there’s a plot, and I’m not sure if it’s considered a community garden because it’s mostly for the building that’s next to it, but it’s not very accessible, right. So, there is not, if you were in a wheelchair or if you were, you were, if you had, depending on type of impairment you have, you can’t access that. So the question is, is it for the community? Is it for those people in that building? Those people in that building, they will get older, right. They will have needs.
They will have age-related disabilities, eventually. But by that time, right, when they need those resources, when will that happen, right? When will these things get fixed? Do you see it as a problem? That’s another thing. Does the community, see lack of access as an issue? And then is it, do they see it enough as an issue that it needs to be resolved? Especially within the community.
So, for instance, if you have a community garden, and it is not accessible to people with disabilities, then I would say this is not a community garden. This is a garden for some and not for all. And we need to look at what gardens are actually accessible. How they are making them accessible. And how, and what ways we can incorporate them, right.
And sometimes that’s going to be maybe that, maybe more expensive in the short term, but in the long term, it allows the entire community to actually enjoy the garden, right. So, maybe that is raised garden beds, right. Or maybe you do have to pour concrete.
Or you have to lay some things down. Or something you have to have other things in consideration. The important thing would be is to ask members of the community, and to reach out to as many different members of the community, not just people in your immediate circle, not just people in your immediate building.
There are times, like for instance, there was a block party this past weekend, no, no, no, no, no, weekend before last, there were fliers everywhere. Someone had went door-to-door posting fliers letting people know. And we also have a local newspaper, right? Is that online? Is it accessible? Is that advertised? How are you getting the word out?
Because when there’s a big event or there’s, or something’s important, people, you’ll get letters, you’ll get fliers, you’ll get all these things, are we doing that for all of these things that involve the community? How are we communicating with all members of the community to and ensure that we are getting the fullest participation possible. Because that is the best way to take care of the community.
Fullest participation possible in all different forms, and, you know, communicating, continuous communication and accessible communication, with as many members of the community as possible is what’s going to make the community not only strong, but sustainable through changes.
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JUSTICE: Whether it’s a lack a lack of accessible stores, fluctuating food prices, expensive delivery services and accessible grocery shopping apps or few available fruits and vegetables, folks can understandably become fed up with food troubles throughout disasters. As a seasoned advocate who is consistently active around food access, Washieka offers a few strategies for how we can individually and collectively push for what we need.
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WASHIEKA: Social media, many forms of social media, consistent conversation with those in your community. Let’s see, other things I would say would be, if there is a local newspaper or local news agency, blogs, podcasts, blogs. I’m very much, most of my art is multisensory. Um, so, I want people to see and hear and feel really giving people as much of an experience and understanding of what is happening is possible.
I also, plain language summaries of all types with infographics. I love infographics so much. Um, so, those would be the different strategies, right, just getting the word out. But it’s not just, let me tell you something, I don’t just believe in just informing people because some people know, again, the willingness or the unwillingness of legislative parties or whomever, to create and facilitate things that ensure people’s safety and access to food and water.
Again, those are, right, acts of violence. You must react accordingly. Shame is a huge motivator. Guilt is a huge motivator. Using those factors as well to move people, so when, for instance, one store close, like when the Aldis closed in the area there was, it was a big deal in, for a little while. Then there were other communities that helped those in that area to fill the gaps that the closure of that store had on the community, right.
Had no one said anything, had everyone remained silent or just spoke amongst themselves, nothing would have happened. Or if they just mentioned it and didn’t seem as if they were impassioned about it, nothing would have happened. But using those different avenues, people were able to find a stop gap solution. Is it a permanent one, no, but it is bringing awareness to the needs and responsibilities of these establishments when they come into neighborhoods.
And it’s making us, us as a community more wary of when these like franchises or corporate places who are offering services, what is their relationship and their responsibility to the community. So, whoever moves into that space now has that understanding. They have responsibility to that community. So, that is just something, those are the things that I’m thinking of to do.
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JUSTICE: Washieka and I took a few moments to drop into a dream space. Here’s her vision for what disaster justice could feel like if folks were to show up in inclusive ways.
WASHIEKA: I would hope to observe people of all different kinds of, and all different abilities and disabilities helping to assist in any way possible in those communities, right. I would hope to speak, you know, to be able to speak about what happened and then be able to speak about the, how quickly not only, you know, like a legislative body, but whomever, how quickly that community and communities around it responded.
And I actually think about, I was reading this book called the “Paradise Built in Hell” and it actually speaks about how people, after major disasters rally together. And one was about the great earthquake in San Francisco, and how those who were, there were people who came out into the street with wheelbarrows to help pull people from, pull up the rubble. There were people who were cooking in kitchens and people who were at supermarkets and all these other types, not supermarkets, like markets and stuff, they were just having people, food out for people to just take and they were just cooking out in the street as best they could.
They would make these fires and cook food. And those who could distribute clothes and those who could watch people’s kids and those who could put up fliers, the people who were, like, who weren’t as impacted, were helping those who were the most impacted.
And it wasn’t just in the immediate disaster site area, it was the whole, like this whole area, as word spread, more people came in to assist. And it was funny because then when the government came to kind of take over and facilitate things, things got much worse because how they were doing things and the bureaucracy of things and all that stuff, but people were offering people places to stay, even if it was just like, oh here’s a chair or something to lay on, people were helping to make makeshift tents, all these other things.
And I think of that. That is what I want to be able to highlight, that yes, this disaster happened and the impacts will be felt, but it will compare to disasters that happened 10 years before, even 20 years before. The lasting impacts will be minimized. And the worst impacts will be minimized because you will be able to see all different types of people helping in different ways, right. And people will be able to take notes. And they will be able to look at this community, not with pity, but with inspiration, but with the ability to go, okay, if something happens in my neighborhood, like this is what I can do, I can organize.
And it’s not in a way of, cause there are people who do these, do these kinds of things and they kind of gauk at people in their misery and what is happening and pity theme. But it wouldn’t be a form of pity, it would be inspiration that you know that we are now, we have come together in a way that this going to facilitate the rehabilitation, the repair, and we can rejoice in what we’re doing. And how we’re helping people.
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JUSTICE: Now you know I had to ask Washieka about love, because showing up for one another either online or in person is an act of love. Here’s Washieka’s love message to our people.
WASHIEKA: That if we remember that we have each other, that we will overcome anything together and that together is where our strength lies, in our ability to be a community in our ability to again across generations, across time, across continents show love and care and consideration for one another across the diaspora to offer assistance and not only assistance, but consolation and love to one another, that is what will help us survive anything.
And it’s helped us survive anything in the past and it’s helping us survive everything in the present. And it will help us to continue to survive everything in the future as long as we remember that we’re doing it together. And we are here for one another and not just ourselves. I think we can survive anything.
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JUSTICE: We are world builders and disaster justice inspires us to build with different tools. And to shape our world by first turning to the hands of those most impacted.
WASHIEKA: I just want people to know that you can begin to create the world you want to see, even if it’s just you and a small group of people, you can should start creating the world you want to see and the world you want to live in an experience.
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JUSTICE: Yes, we are and yes, we will continue creating and building a world where our people are well nourished, well hydrated and have access to all they need to survive and thrive.
I hope this entire interview served you in whatever ways you needed it to. Thank you so much for listening. For more information and to access other audio companions or the full written Disaster Justice Guidebook, go to JusticeShorter.com or AdultAdvocacyCenters.org.
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Transcribed by Michelle Houston
Justice Shorter 