South Central Farmers' Struggle for Justice

This video is a trailer for a documentary called The Garden, but it shows perfectly not only the disruption the farmers caused, but also how they utilized even more tactics than discussed in this blog during these peoples' struggle for justice. Watch it now, or when you get through the blog, or even just watch it and not read the blog, but it is a great clip for this.

In 1994, 14 acres of South Central Los Angeles was purchased and converted into a community garden, or “urban farm,” which at the time was considered one of the largest in the nation. The some, 350 families that cultivated the land called themselves the “South Central Farmers” and were mostly Latin American Immigrants. Long story short, in 2006, one of the original land owners sued the city of Los Angeles and got the land back. He posted and notified the farmers that they had a specific day to be off the property. The farmers and their families fought back, trying to say the repurchase of the land was handled incorrectly. Not only did they fight legally, but they also fought by protesting, holding vigils, and continuing to grow their crops on the land.

Ultimately, the ground was turned back to the previous owner and the farmers were evicted off of the ground. Ironically, they land to this day has sat idle and nothing has been done on it except to doze under the estimated 150 different plant species that used to grow on the 14 acres (Picture above). The city later devoted just less than 8 acres for the farmers to relocate onto and only 3 acres have been actually made available to them to cultivate.

But looking back on their movement and struggle to try and keep the land, it is easy to see that they utilized many different tactics that they had available to them. One of the biggest things they had was their organization. The South Central Farmers were a self governed organization with positions and voting and leaders. Having this organizational structure to the group allowed them to keep their eye on the prize, if you will, and have all their members working toward their single, ultimate goal. They had people who were not the group’s actual leaders but who were very capable speakers who, during the struggle, stepped up and acted as the main voice for the farmers. Having not only talented people, but also having two main voices allowed the group to be consistent with what they say, and sound professional and prepared rather than having numerous people speaking at once that could be saying different things.

The organization also relied on their ability to connect to outside people and gain support from celebrities and people with a lot of influence. Leonardo DiCaprio, Danny Glover, Willie Nelson, and Ralph Nader are just some of the many well-known people who supported the groups struggle. To the left is a picture of Daryl Hannah who actually chained herself to a walnut tree in protest of the eviction. Not only did the farmers have numerous celebrities and people of power, but they also had a lot of themselves. They had power in numbers and they showed it when they protested and had their night time candle-lit vigils. The farmers all came out in support of their cause and made a huge showing in the area around the garden. Not only did they show their numbers there, but as the case went through the courts, a strong majority of the farmers also appeared outside the court rooms and legal buildings where the hearings and trials were taking place.

With their protests and vigils they brought awareness to the situation. They changed the status quo of people’s thoughts of south central Los Angeles, and shed light on a situation most people left “out of sight and out of mind.” As this came about, people had to take note; their movie stars and political leaders were engaged in some issue that they all of a sudden started to follow as well. This disrupted the norm of the time for that area, and for anybody who followed. And beyond disrupting the mindset of people, they also caused actual disruption throughout their struggle. They challenged the idea of eviction from the beginning; many farmers climbed the fence and continued to farm and take crops off the land. They ignored the posted signs and chains and locks, and even when authorities came, they did everything they could to stay farming the land. Then when the demolition crew finally arrived, as mentioned before, people were in the trees, sitting in the garden with their tools, and lining the fence. They also surrounded the garden on the street and police had to create a line in order to keep the farmers and protesters away from the destruction.

I had heard of this situation before now from another CES class, but we looked more at the situation itself and what was happening, and less of the movement and how it worked. I think the entire situation left a bigger impact than we may consider. Most people probably have not heard of the South Central Farmers, but they may have heard about Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), farmers markets, or possibly even community gardens—Pullman has two. The unfortunate situation in LA, I think, has caused a ripple throughout the local agricultural movement itself. I think that people who start, or are involved in such gardens or markets are definitely aware of what happened and have taken strides of preventative care, if you will, to protect them from the same thing. I also think that they realize that the SCF organization had an actual business structure with positions and policies, and that these things can also help the existing organizations function in a way that will help them if a similar situation arises.

Regardless of people like the land owner in this story and other people who are actually against agriculture (because I won’t say that the land owner here is), people will always farm the land. People will always look to better their community. And at times, those two will merge together as one.