Oral History Archive

Interviews

as part of Free the Land! Free the People!

a study of the abolitionist pod

Inglewood

Community

Fridge

Interview with juice wood and Vern Yancy

April 2024 | Inglewood, CA

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ali reza (ar): In what year was the Inglewood Community Fridge founded?

Vern Yancy (VY): October 2020. In the height of the pandemic. I think that was one of the most amazing parts about it, was nobody knew what was going on. We just knew people were hungry. Our people were hungry. And we just had to figure out what we [can] do to help.

juice wood (jw): Everything changed. Well, funny enough, I feel like everything changed for [the] majority of the world. I guess the mainstream or the status quo, but the way that things are now is what things were for a lot of people. For most working class people, for most surviving class people, for pretty much everybody outside of the 1%. If you really want to keep it a buck. I just think that the pandemic forced people to reckon with that. It forced people to see, “Oh, there's a whole way of life out here that I have been able to float above.” Just small numbers. Just off the amount of people who have never in [their] life had to interact with a government service to get something that they needed, experiencing that, experiencing a wait time for something that you've applied for that is for you. That's just another Wednesday. But, I think that's what the pandemic did. And to what Vern was saying, it was that when people ask us - I really wish we had something more profound to say. But it was that A to B. We [were] working on some other business things at the time. We were on the phone one day. I'm like, “Vern, I'm really irritated seeing these fridges popping up on the West Side, or all the stuff that's happening right now. It's not making sense to me. We need one in Inglewood.” Vern said, “Yeah.” I said, “Okay, bro, let's do it.” And then, we did it and that was that. It was just that simple. Honestly, just thinking about how A to B it was if we want to tie in how we got to the [Crenshaw Dairy] Mart, it was also very A to B in terms of the [Crenshaw Dairy] Mart, and that's why we're here and that's why all of this is so special. We were originally wanting it to be downtown Inglewood, because we know that in terms of the population of House of Champions that we have, that is at the time where most of the traffic was. So we're like, “All right. Boom. We’ll be right smack dab in the middle. This will be perfect. It is what it is. Love to all our people, but everybody wasn't really ready to see the vision, ready to take that risk, personally wasn't ready to sacrifice things that they had going on in order to do that. We wasn't at a place yet, where mutual aid is really, taking [off]. So, we [were] frustrated. We went down to Mingles [Tea Bar] - shout out to Lara, Mingles Tea Bar. This would not be possible without Lara. We love you big, big, big Lara. And, we were just kind of regrouping, talking about - “...so what are we going to do now?” “Where we going to take it?” Lara is like, “Why won’t you go down there? There’s some artist down there at the old Dairy Mart. Why don’t you see what they’re talking about?” Vern is definitely always more - less skeptical than I am. So he's always like, “All right, yeah, immediately. Let's do it.” I'm like, “You know, listen, whenever I hear there's new people in the city, my first thought is, “Who are them people?” You know, like, they're most likely not natives. I just be having a little bit more questions, but Vern is like, “Let’s just walk down there and see.” So we walk down here. We pass the gate. ali reza and noé are right here. And we kind of, you know, temperature check, like, “What's up?” And they pass the temperature check, then we ask if we can send you guys a proposal. We sent a proposal, and kind of immediately, ali reza and noé responded to us, embraced us. We got on a Zoom, I think that same week, and it was as a non-brainer as it was for us for them, and the rest was history. [We’re] thinking we're just going to have an electricity host; and, the CDM was the fridge team [will be] holding that down with us. Taking shifts three times a day like everybody else was and just so much more. So yeah, it's two way - it's two way.

VY: One hundred percent.

Avery Clark (AC): What inspired you to create the Inglewood Community Fridge?

VY: I'm trying to figure out how to re-state it. The true inspiration, as juice said, we were talking about personal matters. We were figuring out ways for the two of us to come out on top and to progress and propel the society. I really feel like it was a moment, especially in 2020, when the world just started doing what it was doing with the pandemic [and everything]. We realized that it's really bigger than us, that realization hit us that, “Yeah, we're going to be good,” “Yeah, we're going to work, we're going to build out these dreams and these visions, these goals that we have. But right now, we've been called to help our people. We've been called to help our community, build our community, unite our community, bring our community together.” And I think that was one of the biggest drivers behind, “How do we do that?” And then, as juice said, [we] saw the fridges and the community fridges even going down - some as bare bones - as a place, an opportunity to provide nourishment and fresh produce to those who need it, for those in need. And we started to see where a majority of the fridges were in Los Angeles. They were in areas where, we'll just say that, people don’t really need fresh produce, complimentary hygiene products - I’m going to pause real quick, We are in Inglewood with the airplane[s] - So then, that gap in the community was just like, “Why is this not easily accessible to our people? Why is it not easily accessible to those that we believe, or we know, need it the most?” And, from that thought process, we just became immediately dedicated and committed to, okay, “How do we solve this problem?” I mean - one of the thing I always flash back on, is [that] I always think about also the time that it was in. I had just moved back to Los Angeles from DC, quit my job to do entrepreneurship full time. So I could barely feed myself. juice was finishing up school, figuring out how to feed himself. But somehow, someway, we come together and we like, you know what? Let's put what we need to the side, and let's focus on how we can feed others. So, I always think about that in my mind. This entire initiative came from, “What’s bigger than us? How can we do, how can we accomplish, how can we serve a community larger than us?” And I think that's what really powered us to make this happen.

jw: Yeah. 

VY: Anything I miss?

jw: Nah, I mean, that's it. I think, too, as Vern is saying, it gave us that opportunity to kind of act on a principle that we as two people, as two believers, as two revolutionaries in our own right, that was something that we've already believed that I know that I'm good and I should always be thinking of the next man, my fellow man, my brother, my sister, the community. But I think, even in the ways in which we had learned it at present, it was from this vein of charity, like Vern is saying, someone less fortunate, or it being about need. This initiative gave us an opportunity to really learn about mutual aid, word to Dean Spade, “solidarity over charity,” in the sense that it's because that we are people who can recognize that we are in need; but, in the ways that we are in need, that does not make us down and out. We still do have things to offer. So, a big thing that we did at our fridge - and it just a principle was - take what you need [and] leave what you don't. So even if you're someone coming to the fridge, and you're coming to the fridge and you're thinking that you have all this abundance, there is a way, there is a spot in your life where you don't actually have it; and, in that regard, as we take care of each other, we're not thinking about it as, “There are some of us who can take care of more, because you have more; and, if you don't have abundance, you don't have nothing.” Like nah, that's not true, and that's a colonial lie that keeps people in a framework of, “I can only do for others if I'm so up, if I'm so up, I'm good. And when I get to that place that I'm so up, I don't need nothing from nobody, because I just got it.” Where it's like, no, it's always a circle, [it’s] cooperative economics, and self-determination and things like that. That - word to the Panthers [Black Panther Party].  Vern is a part of a historically black fraternity. Word to these pillars that we have always had inside of us. The fridge put us in an opportunity where it's abolitionist practice to practice, to put a lot of these things that we knew in theory into practice. Then invite our community, and our loved ones, and our families, and our friends to be a part of that as well, and get this sort of on-the-job learning and training that you carry with you for the rest of your life, and don't even clock it as like, “Oh man, I just changed my perspective on this, or this new thing.” I'm just living in that - now that's the reality.

VY: 100%. I think - one last thing to add. Thinking about juice and I, we've been trailblazers, leaders, some of our old camp counselors may call us rebels. Together since we [were] kids, so it only made sense that we put our minds together, and to create something and to help impact the community in the way that we've done with the fridge, because we've been on this road since five years old, maybe. So, yeah, it's been a beautiful thing, beautiful journey.

ar: Describe the community in which the Inglewood Community Fridge was founded.

jw: Inglewood. The City of champions. We in the Wood right now - speaking of the Wood - if you're from Inglewood, you talk over the planes. You talk over the planes, you talk over the street traffic. It's kind of soothing. It's not something you realize until other people are like, “Oh, right. I guess this is kind of noisy.” Inglewood is noisy. It's loud. There's a post about it, just like there's a post about all of our subsections and cities when it comes to thinking about what we know, [when] we talk about L.A., [what] we say in L.A., we saying, this is the city, the land. We're not talking about the Westside. We are talking about Inglewood, South Central, Watts, Long Beach, Compton, Leimert [Park], we can keep going. Inglewood specifically, the [Inglewood Community] Fridge, is founded at the Crenshaw Dairy Mart. The Crenshaw Dairy Mart as a landmark in terms of Inglewood is also legendary. So having that a part of the fridge’s story is really foundational. We right here off the Shaw, Crenshaw and Manchester. If you know anything about L.A., you know those legendary streets. We're on the northside of Inglewood. The fridge used to sit right outside of the [Crenshaw Dairy] Mart -  it's hard to talk about Inglewood especially at this point in terms of what is the community or what is the city. I think the City of Champions is a label, it's what we call ourselves, but it's also [a] very true testament to this city's resilience, and its heart. What I mean by that is in thinking about the community fridge, right?

In a matter of weeks, the idea of, “Okay, there's a need, and it's up to us.” We would say, “Champions feed champions.” That is another thing we would say at the fridge. That’s true. That's something that we learned growing up in this city, growing up in different parts of L.A., it's things that we've seen. Our ancestors and our elders do. There's a problem - we fix it. That's it, that's all. No one's coming to fix it. It's up to us to fix it. And, not from a place of having to, but from a place of true self-determination and pride. If not us, then who? I think another testament to Inglewood's resilience as a city, when you're thinking about what is this city made of, currently right now, the IUSD (Inglewood Unified School District), the school district of Inglewood has been in a conservatorship - not conservatorship, a receivership - with the state for almost the last 12 years. As a result, five schools are closing in Inglewood this year. Two have closed in the last couple of years. As that's happening, the Intuit Dome is booming right now as we speak. There's white folks lined up, camped out outside the Forum for whatever concert, or whatever - the revenue is there in a very palpable way. Yet, that cognitive dissonance of Kelso [Elementary School] right down the street from the Forum, on the other side, is closing. Here we are fighting for Inglewood, the Inglewood that we know, the service of champions. I just think - take that, and do with that what you will. But, that's what Inglewood is, and that's what Inglewood produces, when it comes to the soul of a people.

VY: Right. I think the one thing I would add is that Inglewood is beautiful for [its] streets, is beautiful for [its] landmarks, but it’s excellent for its people. The champion's mindset is because of the people. juice is alluding to some of the things that are taking place, the changes that are taking place, the gentrification that [has] already happened in the city, throughout the community. And I think it’s because we've been functioning, pretty much, in such a fertile environment, and we've been functioning in such a beautiful orchestra, across everyone within Inglewood. Now others have seen it, got wind of it, and they're like, “Wait a second - nah nah nah - they having too much, they having too much fun, they having too much peace. They having too much joy over there. Nah. We need parts of that. We need pieces of that.” So Inglewood, at its core is beautiful people. Beautiful people that are in houses. Beautiful people that are in homes. Beautiful people that may be houseless. There’s beautiful people all over the place, all focused on excellence, and just staying together. I think that's what made Inglewood the ideal place for this. In order to make this happen, [we’re] going to need a community. We knew that we could not - we would not - be able to do this ourselves. We knew that we would not be able to reach as many people, and provide the impact that we needed and we wanted to provide just ourselves. When you think about different neighborhoods or cities within L.A. County, within this part of California that have the closest community, Inglewood is number one. And I got to say, I live in the district area. I live in Windsor Hills, View Park, Baldwin Hills, Ladera [Heights] area, but came and grew up coming to Inglewood all the time - went to church in Inglewood, school in Inglewood, [and] family lives in Inglewood. So, even though it’s not where I rest my head it’s something that is still deep ingrained into my blood, into my heart. I think it's just a beautiful place, and it was a perfect place for us to make this happen.

AC: Who or what in the past had inspired this project?

jw: I'm going to first start with just on a historical level. I don't think that if you're a Black American, an organizer, grassroots - however you classify yourself doing anything in the 21st century - that any of us can act like we're not operating off the [Black] Panthers legacy. So first and foremost, I think the Black Panthers sacrificed their life for us to have a tangible blueprint to be able to work from, and not just the Panthers, the Black Arts Movement, the Black Liberation Army. There's a long, long list. But, a lot of our elders and ancestors have set the framework for this. In a more direct way, how we found out about the L.A. Community Fridges network was through finding out first, there's a network in New York, and they were doing it. I had a homegirl who was living out there at the time, and she was just sharing with me about how they were responding, and that there was a community of people in it in L.A. who were trying to do the same thing called L.A. Community Fridges. So shout out to them. And from there, that's how we kind of put our framework together for what we were doing. At the time that we were doing the fridge there was also - there was also a group of great men called alt_Chicago. They actually came down and they visited us, and they have a working market and pantry in Chicago and a couple of different places out there. In terms of L.A. organizations who are participating, the mutual aid that I think are really important to name: Summaeverythang, Lauren Halsey. One of the first people to give us boxes, sponsored boxes, for one of the drive-throughs that we were doing at Darby [Park]. I think Ms. Rogers Hood is an excellent resource as well. They're doing this work. Project 34 L.A. SJLI [Social Justice Learning Institute], who you guys [have] already spoken to. Honestly, all the churches in the Wood right now too, just like in the surrounding area, have a food distribution. At present, I would say that there's a lot of folks in the space, just trying to feed the people who are participating in the mutual aid effort. Two programs that I really look to, I would say, that I took a lot of inspiration as well from is Neighborhood Programs and Peoples Programs. They’re two [organizations] in different parts of Cali. One is up north in the Bay, and one is in Sacramento. They have just gotten as close in terms of really being in that Ten-point program, being [the] Panthers, in terms of having a clinic, in terms of having a farm, in terms of having the distributions, and the giveaways, in terms of school initiative and things like that. Let's see. Yeah, I think that's everyone I could think of right now. But man, shout out to Midnight Books L.A. and also All Power Books. All Power Books is doing something really special. They’re here in L.A. too. Yeah, they do similar work to us, but I could keep going. Vern got folks too. But, like he was saying, we live in a city - to be from L.A. for real, to be from any big city, whether it's L.A., New York, Chicago, X, Y, and Z - is to know that the people are always working. Boots are always on the ground, like it's always us doing for us. It's just that the initiatives get co-opted oftentimes, by the powers that be coming in and saying, “okay, we got the resources, we've got the money here, let's take this, let's do this.” And usually, “Let’s neutralize it.” There's a lot of folks - shout out to the Leimert Park fridge as well. Tony and them over there at Hot and Cool [Cafe] now known as ORA over in the district. They were definitely huge inspirations for us and how we were doing things. They were arguably our closest partner. We did a couple of different drives and stuff together. So yeah, they were a big inspiration as well.

VY: I mean, she had it. Every organization I could think of. Divine Nine the (NPHC) National Panhellenic Council. They’ve done a lot of food giveaways and just, you know, Liberation Initiatives. Right. So Kappa Alpha PSI Fraternity Incorporated. I know we do a lot of lunches, passing out a lot of lunches across the city, not just in Inglewood. Going to Long Beach, going to Skid Row all over L.A. So, there's a lot of - I think it's a good thing that we are not the first, and now we are not the only ones. Right. And won't be the last. And we won't be the last. I think that would be a very sad accomplishment if we were the first, only, or last. I think that's what makes this even more beautiful and more exciting is that people are out here. We all feel the same thing, and we ready to feed and help our people. Not just feed, but also ultimately liberate our people. I think that's what we were able to accomplish, and what a lot of different organizations and people are accomplishing. Even the Crenshaw Dairy Mart is accomplishing that on such a high beautiful level.

jw: I was about to say that, Crenshaw Dairy Mart is a blueprint. St Elmo’s Village is a Blueprint. We're talking NPHC, shout out to Epsilon chapter USC. The USC Delta [Sigma Theta]. We already talked about Mingles [Tea Bar]. Lara [Curtis] at Mingles [Tea Bar]. There were two people I was going to say. If it comes back to me, I'll say it. Maintain the mystery. DeMarco and Mary, what they got going on over there. The Pact Project, as well. One more, two more, Lily of the Nile market, my home girl Dorthey. The public policy advocate, consult. I mean, L.A. baby through and through. Also from the district. Has been strategizing - coordinating - for two decades in this issue before we had the languages of mutual aid and all this stuff. Currently, at the Luskin School of Public Policy right now, at UCLA, so that she could just get bigger grants, and take it to a crazier place. Shout out to SUPRMARKT as well. They've been doing it for a while. Prosperity Market. I mean, yeah, like we're out here. We're out here for sure. I think there's definitely been an uptick since the pandemic, which is really encouraging, truthfully to see.In comparison to a lot of the other community aid, that uptick during the pandemic, and somehow, someway disappeared. We don't know what happened to it. A lot of these organizations, especially the ones juice just named, and that we're familiar with or a part of, continuing to move, continue to go, even if it doesn't look like how they initially came out to serve and impact during the pandemic. Their service and impact did not stop at the end of the pandemic, and continuing to find new ways to serve and new ways to impact, and new ways to feed and liberate our people. So yeah, it's been beautiful. Rotary Club too, shout out to the Inglewood Rotary Club. Shout to Carlos, running for a council seat soon. So yeah, like this [is] what we [are] saying like a lot of community members are now trying to make that shift to figure out, okay, we see what's going on Inglewood right now. How can we literally, in every way we can think of take our city back. So, shout out to Carlos being the first of many, hopefully, Inglewood organizers and people who go ahead and want to try to get in council seats, and take this to a legislative level.

ar: Describe the impact of the Covid- 19 pandemic on your work. 

VY: For me, it accelerated it. It sped it up. We knew a solution was needed fast. I think one of the things, as a community fridge, we focused on the fresh produce, healthy foods or just foods in general, but we also had hygiene kits. We also had face masks, We had hand sanitizer, we had feminine hygiene products. We had clothes and shoes at one point, it literally became a destination where if you had a need in Inglewood, in L.A., regardless, if you had a need, this is where you could come and have that need fulfilled. So when I think of the COVID-19 pandemic, that really just, one, pushed us to find a solution quickly, and then, I think because you had the impacts of the pandemic, you saw more people jumping in, as juice was speaking to earlier, more people jumping in like, “How can I help more people.” More people realizing, especially when they see everything that's happening, and they see the impact that we're making, they're like, oh, realizing another thing that as you said earlier, “I don't need to be super prosperous living on my high horse in order to help, in order to give back, in order to support.” So you saw a lot of people start to understand, hey, “What can I do? I am abundance. I do have abundance of something. What can I provide?” Some people provided time, some people provided some food every now and then, some people provided water. Some people just like the image, or who will share the fridge location on their social media to let more people know about it. Or, some people will connect us with other people. It was just a way - COVID 19 also, helped us bring a lot of people together to figure out, okay, how can we all be a part, and be a community within this community fridge initiative. And, I'll just say for me personally, one thing I loved about the impact of the pandemic, which led to the fridge, and it continued to accelerate the fridge was that it brought me even closer with the community. Specifically speaking, our neighbors, houseless neighbors. I was guilty of being one of the ones that had a connotation for somebody that's houseless - wait for this - but through the fridge, because of the pandemic, being able to have conversations with many different people, with kids walking to school, with some of the neighbors in the community riding their bikes, having all these different conversations, hearing all these stories, meeting all these different people. That just changed my entire perspective on community, on love, on friendship, on connections, etc.. So, the pandemic really just was - the idea we had was a great flame, it was a great bonfire - but the pandemic came in, doused lighter fluid on it, and just exploded it into this never ending flame that was never going to go out. Right. So that's what I think the pandemic did from my perspective.

jw: I think the pandemic, from my perspective, it kind of solidified for me people's power, not that it was something that wasn't real and solidified for me, but I think - I'm a late millennial, right? Me and Vern both [are] late millennials, and I feel that one of the co-opted sort of things that happened for all of the millennials, the early and late, is this idea of, “You never work a day in your life if you're doing what you love.” That's all fine, and that's cute and everything, but I think that a lot of us were miseducated and honestly neutralized. I think what it did was allow people to say - to not only do what we were already doing, which is make that separation between church and state. Make that separation between, “This is my job, this is what I do for my life, and how I survive or whatever and, I'm going to do these other things in the shadows behind closed doors as long as it costs me nothing, and [I don’t] risk [anything], and blah, blah, blah.” Which [is] not a real thing. To ever think that we are resisting in a way that does not cost us, is to effectively not be resisting. If you're not a threat to the systems in your disruption, and naturally you put your hand in fire, and you don't come out burned - that [wasn’t] a real fire. We know that that was an image. You know, it just is what it is. I think that it put me in a position to say, all right, The Black Arts Movement, the way that it happened before, it’s still right here. And, it just takes those artists being willing to say, “Yeah, this is how I'm going to participate in it.” These two are not separate from me. My responsibilities to my people are not separate. It doesn't go away, just because I'm an artist, and I want to do some things, and I live in L.A., and I live within the empire in a way, in Hollywood. That says, nah, this [is] the only way we're going to let you play. It's like, nah, it's not happening, you know? Even if that cost my whole life, if that cost my whole career, it will be worth it, every time. So I think it just further solidified that perspective for me, and how necessary it was to do that, and to be someone who I recognize that there's a privilege in saying that. To be someone who is privileged enough to say, “Yeah, I'ma hold this line no matter what it cost me for me and mine,” and know that ultimately that's how I'm being replenished, and my cup is being filled so. Yeah.

AC: Can you describe the 2020 Uprisings?

VY: The Uprisings of 2020. I think that was a pivotal moment that made me go even harder, simply because I think everyone has their own path, everyone has their own fight, everyone impacts, motivates, excites change in a way that fits their calling, and their anointment. I loved what the Uprisings did. I love the movement. I love that we were able to amplify our voices. I think it was amazing to be able to - I think one of the reasons why they were so impactful was that [the] Uprising was not a monolith across the board. It was not consistent in how it looked across the board. Some people were out in the streets marching, some people were in boardrooms, pounding tables. Some people were [in] city hall getting legislation moved. Some people were in certain community organizations demanding ceasefires. Some people were on the corner of Crenshaw and Manchester, finding ways to feed the people. The fact that - I understand the word Uprising that was in the question, but that entire process just showed for me how people can adapt to figure out, okay, if this is the ultimate goal, what can I do and what am I capable of doing? What have I been provided to help impact and make progress towards that goal. So specifically, it was just beautiful to be able to see everyone take ownership of what they can do, and what they can provide, how they can impact, and then just go in and hone in on that full flesh, because we needed everybody. We needed everyone that did everything. We needed - I don't know if this is going to make it in, but we needed people to go and break shit. We needed all that. We needed some confrontations with the boys in blue. We needed that. Like we needed that, because at the same time we needed this. We needed the healing spaces, we needed the healing circles, we needed the support for the medical workers. We needed all of that shit. I mean all of that, excuse me. In order for us to get to where we are today, and most importantly, continue to progress [to] where we want to be tomorrow. I was very happy, and very motivated to figure out, okay, what is my call to do during this time, in this moment. I think I'll be able to - I rest very well that night knowing that I did everything that I was supposed to do, that I could have done during that time. I know I put everything on it, put everything on the line and made it happen to what I was able to do. So, that's what it feels like for me. What about you?

jw: Here at the [Crenshaw Dairy] Mart, when it comes to abolition, when it comes to myself, I think what Vern is saying, we spent a lot of time talking about everybody having a lane. That's a lot of what our conversations are about. That's a lot of what our conversations were about when it came down to the fridge like, yo, everybody - [it’s spoon theory] everybody has, if this is Pokemon cards, everybody has a card, and on everybody's card there's agility, there's stats. There are things that here's - like Vern said, here’s you’re anointed, here's your calling, here's how you could participate in this fight. I think that that's another thing that just got solidified for me, during the Uprising - I was fighting [a] case at that time, Freedom Summer. I was living in Santa Clarita at the time, which is where every police officer in L.A., everybody in LAPD, that's where they go home, you know, to go to sleep. And so experiencing, during that time, things that my ancestors have experienced. Things that a lot of the Panthers were experiencing, possibly being a political prisoner, that being a possibility, and having to really look at myself in the mirror to talk to my family, and talk to myself by saying, “Okay, is this what ima do?” “Is this worth it?” Being like, “Yeah, it's worth it.” We do all this talking again, getting back to the millennials, do all this talking about, man, you know, we're not our grandparents and we not... We so much more, and to be honest, I don't know. That's really not the case. There's a lot of times where when it's time to do the very thing when we think about the idea of the Montgomery Bus Boycott lasting about a year and some change, every day of that, like literally thinking about that. Thinking about the fact that there are so many of our elders who just in the last two years got out, Mutulu (Shakur), and just so many people who gave their literal life, that not being a colloquial thing, gave their literal life period, to hold the line on behalf of all of us. Like Vern said, like when that time comes, are you who you say you are? Are you who you think you are? I think the Uprisings forced people to answer that question for themselves, and amongst theirs, in their circles and stuff like that. And, we were not exempt from that. So that's what it definitely did for me. I think, Kwame Ture talks about the difference between organizing and mobilizing. And I think, it also just for me as an organizer gave me real live time data to see where we are in terms of - where we're at in this current time as a people, as a society, and what is our capacity for being able to mobilize, and start moving towards mobilization. Versus just organization, versus coming together in these moments of unrest and uprisings, and for these big great moments. What what will it take to get us to be there, 365? Then when the moments come, where it is, these big sparks, how do we now turn the tide, because the infrastructure was already there, every other day. Now when it was time, “Okay, we got the eyes, we got the this [to] really take it there.” Where are we? What is our what is our capacity for that? How possible is that? What are the tools? What are strategies? What are the languages? How can we do that? You know, and I think that's what the Uprisings gave us, an ability to practice and see in live time, and that was really invaluable to me - is invaluable to me. So, I would say that was the biggest. We needed those. We needed those. And, if society isn't careful, we're going to have a flashback. We're going to have a flashback. Absolutely. I think it definitely also just showed, stay ready. I think that's why these organizations are continuing to fight the good fight. We still got people continuing to pound tables, because now we understand, you just have to stay ready. We can't get too comfortable as a people, as a community. You got to stay ready. I also think the Uprisings, not specific to us, but for all of us, it forced everyone to - whether you want to ignore it or not - interconnectedness is a thing in our struggle for freedom, our struggle for liberation, the liberation of fight. Anybody in it, it is a global effort. It quite literally is an intergenerational, global effort. The idea that, “That don't got nothing to do with me.” is fake.

It's colonial. It’s U.S.-centricism at it’s peak. Anytime we tell ourselves that it's fine, no judgments, no shame, but make no mistake that [it’s] using the biggest scapegoat that you can. You know, if we were taught to do that. But, I think it it forced people to reckon with that, to say, “Man, this may be a belief that I have, but this ain't rooted in nothing. This don't really have no teeth, because this thing is happening right here.” Also because of social media and because of technology, and where we are in the 21st century. At this point,  I cannot delude myself if I wanted to to see, that this thing is the exact same thing as that thing. Just like that thing [and] that thing, and these things are all happening everywhere. So, it just busted a lot of myths, it busted a lot of propaganda, that people tell themselves, that we tell each other - it cut through. It made all the bullshit plain.

VY: It forced us to wake up. It forced us to wake up. Now we're not just living, skipping through life obliviously to what's going on. I think the Uprisings, and just the entire 2020, has forced everybody to wake up, and to be able to identify what's propaganda and what’s real, and be able to read more, learn more, make decisions for ourselves now. I think it also woke a lot of people up. Not just the people, not just oppressors, even the communities. We had to wake up, thankfully, to the Uprising. And now, people are learning more. We're researching more about our history now, to see when this has been done in the past. We're learning more about other organizations that are making progress in this space already. So I also, appreciate how it woke everybody up.

ar: Have there been any notable shifts in your work since 2020 that have influenced this organization by the Uprisings and the Covid-19 pandemic?

VY: COVID 19 pandemic - the entire 2020 - I'll just say that the entire 2020, I think one of the biggest projects of the 2020 was the [Inglewood] Community Fridge for me. And, just that mindset of if you see somebody in need, don't wait to help. Don't wait to lend a hand. If you see an opportunity to help somebody, go do whatever you can to go fill that gap to go help that person with whatever they need. And I think, that was something that has just continued to stick with me throughout since then. And from my businesses, so I own a men’s self care brand. So based on that brand, we realized we were helping men, love themselves, grow more confident with themselves, look in the mirror, spend more time in the mirror, and not be intimidated by what they see. But one of the things, I was able to quickly identify was, there's still a gap in the young generation, in the young kings, in the young boys coming up after us. I could have said like, no, I need to make X amount of money. I need to get to this living situation before I go break off, and try to attack a whole [other] problem, a whole [other] issue. But because, of remembering what it took and how quickly we mobilized to get the fridge up and running, because we saw people who needed to be fed, people needed to be liberated. When I realized that our young boys in our communities, in our underserved communities, need to be fed, need to be liberated, needed to learn how to love themselves before they go into self care issues and self esteem battles later on in life. How can we address that earlier? It was [a] no brainer for me to like, “Hey, we got to get this done now.” So, me and one of my great friends, Desmond Taylor out of Houston, we coauthored a book called I Am King, and it’s all about helping young black boys learn how to groom themselves and practice good hygiene routine in the morning. But each step of the way, is tied with an affirmation. So, how does this relate back to this, again, it’s just a mindset now. Where it's like, if I see an opportunity to help, to support, to impact, I'm not going to wait any more. Wait till the numbers look right to do it. I'm honestly not even calculating profit, I'm calculating impact. You can ask, all my business partners, they hate me for that. That is my main metric, my main focus. What's the impact of this? What's the impact of this product - what's the impact? So, I think that's has been something that’s been at the forefront of my mind consistently since 2020. And everything I do, everything I touch, the main question is, hey, what impact are we making? How are we benefiting and blessing and uplifting our community through whatever it is, whatever move that we make? So that's the impact that 2020, the [Inglewood Community Fridge], the relationship with the Crenshaw Dairy Mart, that's what that has had on me

jw: Similar. I think the way my work has changed, just like I said, we got a lot of information, from what we did. And again, we're talking about it in this way just because the fridge is on pause now. But, where to, it being a mobilized effort, the fridge - it's coming back. If anything, we're on pause, because we want to make sure that based off of what we learned, we're plugging and planning, we're applying , [simple and plain]. One of the biggest things that we learned is that, “We,” and when we say, “We,” we mean me and Vern, we mean the community, we mean everybody on our team. We don't know ourselves. There are four major things that me and my homeboy Oto, Oto-Abasi Attah is the lead artist [him and Ty G], for the Inglewood Community Fridge. And so, me and Oto, last year spent some time just coming up with a couple of different things. And, the four things that we identified, through learning from the fridge in 2020, that the oppressor steals from the oppressed is number one the ability to imagine, number two the ability to reflect, number three the ability to matriculate through life, adolescence to adulthood without constant threat, fear or danger, and number four, the ability to take up space. So, just sitting with those things, if you were to put all of those things together, one could say, if you do all four of these things, you know yourself. So ultimately, oppression steals the ability for us to know ourselves. And, not know yourself in terms of the self-care [industry], that knowing yourself is self love itself, all these things. But to actually know who you are, know your people, know why your values are what they are, know why your morals are what they are, and know what that means in action and how to actualize that. The practice of being able to take things from theory to practice. The practice of being able to, word to abolition, say, “This is what we're in right now.” Thinking about me and Vern, this is what we're in. Vern is moving back home, just finished school, working and honestly transitioning from corporate America to being, an independent business owner. I'm finishing grad school, got this case open, all these things that should say we have no business in terms of where we're from. You can't help nobody, you can’t help yourself. We have no business even thinking, even imagining that there is something out there that we can be doing for people while we are also ourselves in need. We were able to do that. We know that a lot came into our ability to be able to imagine that, and then go out and do that. But that was crucial. So, in seeing, we know how lucky, how intentional, from the way that we were parented, to the opportunities that we've had in life, to who we are as people,  X, Y and Z that made it possible for that to happen. What would that look like? If everybody in our family had that starting there? Then our friends, then our community, what would that look like if we as a people were getting back to be self-determined? How does that even have to happen, when we're talking about abolition? How are we restoring these things? Like how does that happen? In just whittling it down and based off what we learned, it has a lot to do with re-learning the ways in which we were intentionally miseducated. Like Vern was saying earlier, what is propaganda and what is not, and just fine tuning that and doing that with each other in live time. So, when it comes to the fridge just like we realized, public safety is something that was a big deal. There's a lot of folks who simply and plain, want to do good, [but] don't know where to start. Their idea from doing good is still wrapped up in charity. Is still wrapped up in colonial practices. Don't know how to do good, while not calling the police. You want to feel safe [and you want] to also help others feel safe. How do you reconcile that? So realizing, okay, we've got to reestablish what public safety even means, before we're just telling people this is something that we don't believe in. We don't call the police here, but we don't want you to feel unsafe doing the thing. So how does that happen? How do we build that infrastructure? Okay, cool. We need trainings. Okay, cool. We have to bring people in to where we're at. Little stuff like that. So just as that as an example, with my art, that's definitely the path that I turn to. So I definitely took an approach of  like, Ima be a part of the artist[s] that let it all hang out. Using myself first as a framework, and shout out to the Crenshaw Day Mart FAACE Fellowship [Fellowship for Abolition and the Advancement of the Creative Economy]. Last year, I completed my first exhibition. My first real shot in the visual arts world. In that exhibition, that's pretty much what I did. I use my journey through someone who has been living with suicide for as long as I can remember. And I said, okay, what happens if all these big scary things in the world that we don't want to talk about, that we don't want to touch. If we remove the taboo, can that start having conversation? I spent a lot of that show inviting people to ask the questions that I had asked myself to themselves, which were specific about, “What do you have to give when you tell a person that you there for them?”

And, [when] we telling our people we're there for them, what does that even mean? When we're talking about addressing needs? What does that mean? What does it need? And who are you as a person? What do you have to give to someone whose in need, in terms of your own needs? Do you know what they are? How are we doing these things? Literally, how is it happening? Going back to the beginning and starting there. Desmond Tutu has this quote which says, “Yeah, [this is] great and everything that we’re pulling people out the water, but we need to take it a step further and go upstream and figure out how people keep falling in.”

How is that happening? It's beautiful that we got the rescue missions and everything, but just straight up. And so I think that's what I'm aiming to do [with] my art now. I'm aiming to address how we [falling in]. You know, looking at how I've fallen,  and [just saying’, “Okay, cool, have you fallen this way too? Okay, you falling this way. Okay.” And then just keep, where, it's Autumn [Breon], doing a data analysis, and saying, “All right, here's the stats, here's what we know, here's what we have. Let's see what happens now. Let's plug and play. Let's do this. Let's just do that. Let's put these things to the test and let's not be afraid to do so. And let's take perfectionism and all of these things out and let's take our learning, let's take our education. Let's take these things back into our hands.” Even just in that, academia and education are two different things. But it takes an intentional effort to get to a place where you re-remember that. It's not supposed to happen. So, yeah, I just feel like we talk a lot about spooks. There's people who get in there. Forget the mission. I've identified through the pandemic and through what we've learned, that I'm someone who has the ability to not forget the mission. So with my art,  I'm just trying to help other people remember or not forget the mission, and take that with them in the lanes that they are running in. Just like Vern, it's about the impact. What's that impact? You know, that's the way I'm asking that question. 

AC: Were there any challenges that had disturbed this organization?

jw: Yeah I mean, I”ll just start by - kind of what I was just saying. So much of what we learned, came from the obstacles that we were facing. We have a lot of House of Champions, who simple and plain: the options are either I am 100% well, somehow unrealistically as to what I’m going through, or I’m being put in behind someone’s police car, and going to jail. When it comes to champions that have schizophrenia, when it comes to champions that are living with bipolar disorder, one or two, when it comes to folks who are just struggling out here in a way that cannot be suppressed, ways in which we're taught. I’ll wait for the plane. That was definitely an obstacle, just trying to figure out how do we serve everyone, how do we protect all of us? How do we make sure that folks who are out here struggling in a way that they can’t manage or afford to, I guess, struggle better or struggle less, less visually, or less loud? How do we make sure that they're cared for? But, how do we also make space for the fact that, hey, unfortunately, everybody's not where we're at, so how do we make space for the people who are still colonized to see that as the problem. To see, calling the police, the best way for all parties involved to be safe. And then, how do we as people who understand both parties, navigate that? And ultimately, that came with the hardest decision ever, which was to put the fridge on pause, while we could in a safer way, just make sure everybody was okay while we figured out, all right, how do we answer that question? How do we do it? What does that look like? And, that is allowed us to come up with the path of: We know that we for sure got to have some intentional trainings. We know that we for sure want to partner with a couple of different organizations. New Era Detroit. There's an organization of black men out in Detroit called New Era, and they basically, again, shout out to the [Black] Panthers, they are fathers, uncles, teachers, brothers. Just Black men in the community who have taken things into their own hands, and have said, okay, we're going to serve the people. Public safety is a real thing.

What policing is is not public safety. So, okay, we have someone who is working late at night in our stores. We're going to be there, guns in a hand, or just whatever  is needed to make sure our elderly storefront owners are making [it] home. You know, we're making sure that robberies, or all these are the things that people are otherwise saying, “Well, what about all the crime? If we get rid of the police, we defund, what what are we going to do?” They've said this is exactly what we're going to do. You know, we're going to make sure that safety is an option, and we're going to train anybody who wants to come and do this for themselves.

And they have an L.A. chapter, so whether it looks like partnering with them, just bringing the community in, and saying, all right, cool, we do have enough resources within ourselves. It's going to take a little time to put everybody together, and figure out what that looks like, and while we do that, we want to make sure that no one feels unsafe in the process. Okay, let's pause this fridge. So that was definitely a struggle. I think that if we had - if -  again, this is the biggest struggle, like when you're an oppressed person trying to fight your own oppression, while also uplift yourself and empower yourself and empower your community, there's only 24 hours in a day. And the system - what we're up against. The Empire is crazy -  like it's the largest opp, the most dedicated opp, that one could face. If you think about it, people be laughing. If you think about The Incredibles movie, the first Incredibles movie, the first machine that they fought that calculated everything that they did, and spit that right back out, and was like, yeah, what's up? That is what America is. That is imperialism. That is Capitalism - that is what the strength and the magnitude of the opp that we're up against is. So, we have limitations, simple and plain. We have limitations. We couldn't do it. Like we said, Vern was literally moving back home, trying to figure out, okay, how do I transition from this comfy job and salary that I was having, to now being in the exact opposite place, running my business out of my house. I'm now back in my house with my mom and them. You feel me, that’s a whole dynamic as a grown man. I'm literally running from the San Fernando Police Department. Trying to finish my graduate program. Trying to do some family things at the time - like we were just tapped out. And if we were different people, perhaps if we were of a different class, if we were of a different race, if different things applied to who we were as individual people, that wouldn't have been the case. I can tell you right now, there are people who I'm in community with, who were organizing on the West Side, who weren't making those kinds of decisions. And, that has nothing to do with them. But, that's just the way that the system impacts us when we're talking about these things, in the day-to-day sort-of effort. And it doesn't stop impacting us just because we have decided we're not going to be held down by that and we’re still going to try to tow the lines we’re towing in and make the work happen in the world that we're trying to make happen. You just take on both. That doesn't go away. So I think inherently that's always an obstacle. That's definitely one that we faced, and I think that - not just us - you know, the [Crenshaw Dairy] Mart too, like we said, the [Crenshaw Dairy] Mart became not just our host, but it became members of the team as well. So while trying to run The Crenshaw Dairy Mart everyday, also being people who are feeling that impact as well, having to intercede certain police calls, having to help clean, having to just respond, before a work day gets started, and then have a day full of calls and trying to get money, and all these different things and stuff like that. So, yes, it's the inevitable obstacles I think, that you face when you are trying to do what the system does not want you to do, that you can't get away from. But yeah. 

VY: Biggest obstacle, [as] juice said, we wanted to help everybody. It's one of those things, where you start, that first person that walks up to the fridge, opens it - or not even walk up to the fridge - looks at you and goes, “Is this for free?” “I can take one?” You’re like, yeah. And they're like, “Nah, this can't be.” That first person, once that interaction happens, it's like, oh, “How do I help everybody?” I want to help everybody. How can we expand this to help benefit everybody? How can we expand this to not just feed, but to liberate, to clothe, to heal everybody? And, I think that's the challenge with when you find that anointment,  when you're aligned to that purpose, because you realize that it is bigger than you and is greater than you, that challenge will always be there. Because, you'll never stop wanting to help and feel that purpose and make that impact. You're going to constantly look for opportunities. How can I do more? How can I do more? So, I think that was just the biggest challenge with the fridge, was just, “How can we do more? How do we get more food? How do we serve more people? How do we, you know, engage more people, etc..” So that was a beautiful thing. It was a beautiful challenge to have. As juice said, we working on resolving it right now.

ar: Describe your collaboration with The Crenshaw Dairy Mart.

jw: Our collaboration with The Crenshaw Dairy Mart has been life saving, life changing. From day one. From day one, literally we considered the Crenshaw Dairy Mart you know, co-founders as well, they never say that, but they definitely are in the sense that quite literally we have plans to put this fridge in downtown Inglewood. It was not supposed to be this far West. It was supposed to be closer to the north, you know, for an intentional reason. To our shocking surprise, I'm gonna just be honest to our literal, shocking surprise, people wasn't ready they wasn't ready, and we were not prepared for that. We were certain that at least, because it was a couple of different businesses, we were certain that at least just based off of previous conversations we had with people in passing, and things that people say and just understanding the culture and the legacy of the city, that we would have been fine, smooth sailing. So, to be kind of hit with like,“Oh, man,” not only did we not expect this to go this way, but like dang, we kinda even a little disappointed, not broken, but disappointed. And to just be in the community - this is why Inglewood is so Inglewood - be in the community trying to regroup. Just kicking it, and in passing and hearing us regroup and what we were talking about, another community member, you know, our elder, our champion, our sister, our big sister Lara. You know, here's what we're talking about, and says, hey, “Let me let me point you in the direction.” She didn't have to do that. You know, that didn't have to happen. And then Vern being who Vern is being like, all right, let's just see,let's just go for it. Let's just do this. I'm like, man, next person who bs-ing with us, I don't know. We not going to have no more conversations. I mean, I’m just going to start pulling cards. Yeah. Because I'm just like, what are we doing here? What are we doing? But, just that fortitude, just to say, “No, let's just see,”and to trust Laura, and Lara to trust us, to even think that we were two people who were deserving enough of a lob like that. And to come down here, and think that we were going to find an electricity host, and maybe just have a conversation. And that's what we were looking for, just someone who could help host the fridge, so that we could plug it in.Because our fridge was open 24/7 all day and seven days a week, and we had people coming through to clean it three times a day. But for all intents and purposes, again, that's a 24 access, that’s an all day - you know, we're here. So, thinking about what that would take, obviously electricity was a big part of that, and that's what we were looking for. And, we came down here kind of just looking to see if that's what we could find and got literal collaborators. That's it. That's all. Got literal collaborators, you know? CDM didn't just be our electricity host. They came and became members of the community, and became members of our team, and took it on as their own as well, and has not let that go. Still very much is to this day taking on - that’s why we’re here, you know what I'm saying. And to know that the impact of that was so deep, that it also became a framework for something that in terms of what the [Crenshaw Dairy] Mart was doing all on its own, in that mutual aid space, with the abolitionist pod that they thought our initiative, which is significantly smaller, significantly less sophisticated, had anything to offer the pod even. Again, we just came to find some electricity, and left with family, and left forever changed, and left with a home for ourselves as well as people and as artists, and as members of this community. And, you know, it's invaluable.

VY: Definitely invaluable. And, now, especially after hearing that, I look back at all those businesses in downtown Inglewood, and lowkey I want to go and thank them for saying no, and not being ready, because the family that we have grown here, and from not just looking for just a place to plug up the fridge, but then getting a place to be able to connect with others that are actually on this path as abolitionist in their own right. Connect with others that see the vision that are dedicated and committed to the impact, connect with others that - it's not just, okay juice and Vern, you guys figure it out. Here are your requirements, but it’s like, “Hey, we're doing this together. How can we solve it?” That team, that family aspect, it was life changing. I think our relationship with Crenshaw Dairy Mart - y'all, were a blessing. Like keep it a stack. And I think forever - I know the question earlier talked about the impact of 2020. The fridge and The Crenshaw Dairy Mart, I honestly think changed our lives forever. Forever.

Like there is no going back to Vern [and] juice pre-2020, pre that first interaction with ali [reza] and noé [olivas]. Pre that first interaction, there's no going back.  There’s no going back from that. So, I really think Crenshaw Dairy Mart - ya’ll changed our lives. Ya’ll changed my life.

I know you changed juice’s life. Ya’ll changed our lives for the better, and it’s just - thank you. Forever indebted, forever indebted. Thank you. To everybody attached to us too. And again, shout out to all those businesses that didn't want to rock with us. Because, if you all would have said yes, we would have missed out on this amazing family, right here. So, you know, things happen for a reason.

AC: What do you envision for the future of the Inglewood Community Fridge within Inglewood?

jw: Me and Vern are both big thinkers. So truthfully, there's a lot that we could say. But I think to keep it plain, for me, I want to make sure that our initiative is aligned with those that have come before us. So, just like I spoke about neighborhood programs, and the people's programs and the work that's being done in other parts of Cali. I hope to continue -  I hope for the fridge to continue being an initiative, an effort that is a mobilized effort, like when Kwame Ture talks about, Malcolm left the mosque, whenever he went somewhere, it wasn't just Malcolm. I'm here, we're praying, we're doing the things. When I leave here, I want to make sure that this continues. I want to make sure that this was not about me. I may have been the facilitator, we may be the facilitators, but ultimately the goal is for 30, 40, 50 years down the line to look back, and no matter what's going on in Inglewood, to know that the people of Inglewood know that they are able to sustain, and govern themselves where it is most important. When we're talking about the areas of food, we're talking about the areas of shelter, and we're talking about just the principles of self-determination. When it comes down to it, and so I think long term, having our fridge, and having that be our flagship fridge, but having a network of fridges, and a network of pantries, and a network of just hubs for champions and not just us, just like we talk about - everything boils back down to the land as a whole, But just starting in Inglewood, knowing that all the fridges that do exist in Inglewood, whether it's the fridge that's at Salt Eaters bookshop right now, the black woman owned bookshop on market. Whether it's our flagship, whether it's the Lennox fridge. Shout out to Lennox, the beautiful city of Lennox, California that holds Inglewood down in a big way. There should be a fridge on the West, there should be a fridge downtown, there should be a fridge on the north. There should be a fridge of sub-fridges in businesses. There should just be a working, thriving economic network, so that no matter what happens, whether it's a global pandemic, whether it's the city not using funds the way that they should be, whether it's tragedy striking the people of Inglewood, that champions will always know,  this is how we do things. This is how we take care of ourselves. Ultimately, as long as we got each other, we don't need anybody coming in on our behalf, even down to the government, whether it's money, whether it's resources, whatever. We can do this, we can do this, and we are doing this. I think why that's so important to me is, because when I think about the way that Vern and me both grew up, we had as kids, those initiative happening, and we had elders in our lives making and stressing the importance of us doing it. Even though, it’s something that you don't want to do. You don't want to do the community cleanup. You don't want it. You thinking I'm being punished. You know, I got to be here, whether it's church or whatever it is. But, when came time for us as adults to do this, that's why it was able to be so A to B  for us, because we did not have to convince ourselves of the possibility, of it happening, because we knew that it's been happening. Forever. So yeah, I think that's the largest vision that I have just to make sure that the mutual aid efforts that we are a part of, holding down in Inglewood are true, true sedimentary efforts that when we're no longer here, are still rocking.

VY: Just want it to outlive me, pretty much everything you just said. The fight for food justice, the fight for nutrition, the fight for health, in these underserved communities - specifically we’re in Inglewood - is just, I don't want that to stop with us. I don't want that to stop with the [Crenshaw] Dairy Mart. Ultimate goal for this fridge is, okay, how does this continue for years and years and years to come? What does that look like? Right. Does that mean the fridge itself needs to be outside for years and years to come? Could the fridge spark conversation, spark enlightenment, spark motivation, and others to go either set up their own fridges, or other opportunities for this to be able to continue regardless if we're here or not? I think the ultimate goal for this fridge is just to make sure that whether we're here or not, people are constantly, the community is constantly, looking out for its own. That first the community identifies and accepts and embraces their own. Say that again, say that again. That the community identifies, accepts, and embraces their own. And then commits and dedicates their existence to serving -  even embrace the airports -  serving those people. I think that was one of the biggest, biggest things of, yeah, let's just all embrace each other, and just make sure we're continuing to serve and help each other fulfill needs, into eternity. So that's my ultimate goal for this.

jw: I think on a personal level, too, we're talking about everything happening in Inglewood - it's going to always be personal for me. Y'all learned this about me. I'm [going to] always take it there. It’s very important that, [Mayor] Butts, you feel me, Mayor Butts and anybody else who wants pieces of Inglewood, who wants pieces of a city, who wants pieces of an established community, knows it's not happening without a fight. You cannot land on top of a place. Plymouth Rock landing on top of somewhere, as if. And people willing to be up under that rock, keep pushing up. We're going to push up. So, it's going to be y’all or it's going to be us. And that's what people got to understand. The people of Inglewood not going nowhere.

There are things that, yes, you could do in the shadows, you could do behind closed doors.

You could push forward behind people's noses and play games, and hide in the city office and all this stuff. That's fine. Do your worst, do your worst, because we're not going nowhere, and we going to do our worst, too. And that's very, very, very crucial. What people got to understand about any of our initiatives, and any efforts that we do, that it is very intentional, and we are aware of who is trying to throw weight around in an area that does not belong to them. The people that belong to this place are going to fight, and after that fight, make sure people know it's not just about, okay, let's keep our own little thing to be colonized in their own right. No, we're going to fight, so that ultimately we're giving this land back to the people who actually know what to do with it, who were here before us, whose land it actually is, and in that effort too, it's very personal. So, as long as there are forces that be, trying to take over, there will always be equal forces trying to say, listen, that can't happen. So if just on that level alone, my own personal legacy and stake in the game is to make sure that any bully trying to bully knows, look, ain't nobody scared. If you’re going to be the biggest on the block, word to L.A., that's something that we can't even get into now, but Vern know exactly what I'm talking about. You know? Hey, hey, be ready for real. Be ready for real. Be ready. And, that's that on that. So, yeah, that's a part of things too.

VY:That’s that on that.

jw: Wood. For real, for real bro. They don’t know, but we know. 

VY: Got to love it.

Gallery Open

Thursdays - Sundays

11:30 AM - 3:30 PM

On view September 21, 2024 through February 15, 2025

Free the Land! Free the People! a study of the abolitionist pod is organized as a survey and studio of the Crenshaw Dairy Mart artist collective’s ongoing research for the abolitionist pod, autonomously irrigated, solar-powered gardens within modular geodesic domes built with communities impacted by food insecurity, housing insecurity, and the prison industrial complex. The exhibition falls in conjunction with the artist collective’s year of programmed study and research, entitled Imagination Year, collating ongoing illustrations, archival documentation, architectural renderings, sketches, and drawings of the collective’s many configurations of the geodesic structure during its prototype phases as the year-long curriculum engages with a history of collectives and cooperatives at the interstices of food justice, land sovereignty, and the Black Liberation Movement.

The exhibition coincides with a concurrent resource and larger oral history archive indexing the networked Black farmers, gardeners, and Black-led organizations across Los Angeles county with whom Crenshaw Dairy Mart has collaborated with on the abolitionist pod, traversing contemporary movements towards alternative permacultures, which include localized, small-scale farming and micro-farming as models for community care, community safety, and economic autonomy within the larger contemporary abolitionist movement.

Free the Land! Free the People! a study of the abolitionist pod is among more than 60 exhibitions and programs presented as part of PST ART. Returning in September 2024 with its latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, this landmark regional event explores the intersections of art and science, both past and present. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit pst.art