For many Black people, land ownership means liberation. Nyema Clark wants to bring Black liberation to Seattle.
Nyema Clark aka a self-proclaimed “Farm Queen” is a resident of Auburn, Washington, an urban farmer, and the Founder of Nurturing Roots, a healing farm located on Beacon Hill. At Nurturing Roots, fruits and vegetables are free. It does not run on the capitalist system of supply and demand. The land and food is simply there for the people who need it.
Clark currently has her sights set on obtaining 40 acres of land that currently belongs to Seattle Parks & Recreation which she will use to “enliven the soil and invite people to heal and grow.” Clark wants to call the land “Red, Black, and Green Barn Ranch” in honor of the colors of Black liberation.
Through Red, Black, and Green Barn Ranch, Clark aspires to promote healing of Black and Brown people. The Seattle Parks Department is currently in talks with Clark to determine if the land transfer is possible.
When asked about the phrase “Free the land” as it pertains to Clark’s mission, Rachel Shulin, a spokesperson for the Seattle Parks Department said, “On one hand, I think there’s a great alignment in values there,” she says, “and on the other hand, we’re the government, and so we have a lot of requirements.”
“Requirements that were devised to hold the city accountable, she says. “The same requirements that do not allow us to do things like free the land.”
Africatown Community Land Trust has worked to convince the city of Seattle to put land and property back into hands of Black residents of the central district and to remove it from predatory developers. Recent social unrest across the nation in response to the murders of several Black Americans at the hands of police has awakened an interest in land ownership among Black people.
Recently, King County Equity Now provided a list of demands to the Seattle government asking for underutilized property to be transferred to Black led organizations, including Nurturing Roots.
Clark connects the plight of Black people to the plants she works with. “It’s hard for women of color, it’s hard for people of color in general, but Black folks have to develop a special skin,” she says.
“I see it in the plants that you have develop a special skin in order to survive, and it’s sad to see my cherries get ripened and then fall in a week.”
To learn more about Nyema Clark and Nurturing Roots visit: https://www.facebook.com/NurturingRoots206
This story is based on Jenna Hanchard’s series, “Rooted in Liberation”.
