Sanctuary

Earlier this month, state lawmakers passed the California Values Act, a bill that provides new safeguards for California’s estimated 2.3 million undocumented immigrants. Seen as a political clapback to the Trump administration’s unforgiving stance on immigration reform, the legislation forbids California law enforcement agencies from coordinating with federal immigration authorities. The law builds upon the idea of the Golden State as one of “sanctuary” — refuge from deportation, refuge from profiling based on one’s immigra- tion status, refuge for children being torn away from their mamas, babas, aunties and tios.

As an organizer, the concept of sanctuary is frustratingly elusive for many of the communities I work and live in. The generations of black families disappearing from the “Harlem of the West.” The unceremonious shuttering of queer and trans-owned businesses. The raids that incite quiet terror in restaurant kitchens and farms. A light goes out, a person vanishes, and our neighbors ask, “Sanctuary for whom? Sanctuary when?”

It’s as if we are trying to snatch water. Your hands are wet, but ultimately empty.

So I ask, how do we expand the idea of “sanctuary” to wider migration patterns to all who are seeking and have sought refuge here? I looked to another community that has sustained me and so many others — the food industry. I reached out to chefs, farmers and advocates and heard a similar theme: the dire need to carve out physical, psychological and social food spaces for those constantly on the periphery.

Here is sanctuary for survival, in their own words: Sanctuary for my workers and the people in my community means not having to worry. Right now, people are really frightened to move from their place of work and home. They don’t feel comfortable going to visit family, even 15-20 minutes away, as they do not know if they will make it back home to their children. One of my strawberry pickers, a 23-year-old, started developing extreme anxiety and panic attacks. He’s a father and he picks his daughter up every Sunday. He’s an extremely hard worker, provides for his daughter, and sends money back home to Mexico. But, because he’s undocumented, he very fearful he will be sent away and miss those Sundays. A sanctuary city or state, would mean freedom of movement. — Javier Zamora, Organics Farms It is not possible to build a home if your family is being forcefully taken away, let alone the threat of it. My parents nurtured me with homecooked, made-from-scratch meals. So in retrospect, I eventually found the kitchen as my sanctuary. — Tu David Phu, An Having food spaces that are intentional about creating a space for people that is inclusive and centered in love and respect is an essential part of keeping our cultures resilient, particularly in these times. — Reem Assil, Reem’s California Everything in our lives is based on the premise that someone, somewhere is being exploited. Especially in food. It is important within the food industry to give back. Whether it is standing up for your employees, creating a respectful work environment, giving back culturally to a community, sourcing as best you can and moving away from transactions that are solely based on monetary value. Gerardo Gonzalez, Lalito’s NYC In terms of gender, race and culture, you are your best self when you are your most truthful self. Whether it’s our customers, our staff, delivery people or producers, everyone in that truthful self, that best self, will be celebrated and appreciated. We do not reproduce a homogenous culture that everyone has to fit into, and “otherness” has to be checked at the door. — Preeti Mistry, Juhu Beach Club and Navi Kitchen There is no food without sanctuary. How can you purport to provide food to someone with an equal serving of fear, duress, humiliation or exclusion? For food and agriculture spaces to go another way, we need to reject the politics of discrimination and division at every level — in hiring, ordering, selling, distributing, land purchasing. — Nina Ichikawa, Berkeley Food Institute Sanctuary for me is a place of comfort and faith where you have no fear — where all should feel safe and welcomed without judgment. I’ve created a “home” for myself and community by always supporting others. As a child, I would always hear my grandmother and mother say “It takes a village to raise a child”; so when there is a threat, it takes the entire village to fight it. — Fernay McPherson, Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement