I’m using my personal and professional platforms to focus on, stand for and center black lives and racial justice wherever/whenever/however possible — and proud of how our Tyler Florence media channels and newsletter (and the chef/friend/boss man himself!) are doing just that, especially right now. Support black-owned restaurants, use black-created food tech, buy cookbooks from black authors, fund organizations dedicated to black food sovereignty, and get behind food businesses that stand for justice, community solidarity and sustainability in their DNA.
I grateful to be able to curate this content, elevate critical voices, and amplify stories that matter, like this one…
“Let my building burn. Justice needs to be served. Put those officers in jail.” Food, social and climate justice have long been the heart of Ruhel Islam's life and Gandhi Mahal Restaurant- Minneapolis MN — and nothing about that changed when it went up in flames in the now infamous Minneapolis police precinct fire.
I spoke with his activist daughter Hafsa shortly thereafter, in whom he instilled these unwavering values, passion for justice, giving spirit, and focus on community wellbeing and sustainability. "We will rebuild,” she promises, speaking about the beloved and award-winning Indian restaurant where she grew up, which had a first-of-its-kind basement aquaponics system and most recently opened its doors to medics to treat hundreds of protesters injured by police, before burning down. “It will be a long journey, of course, but we'll get there and we'll come back stronger than ever. We can bring back a building, but we can’t bring back George Floyd and return him to his family.” This 18-year-old clearly has her priorities straight.
Sign up for the weekly Wolf It Down newsletter. And you can find this week’s full piece here: wolfitdown.com/blog/stronga-hero-among-the-ashesstrong
The GoFundMe to support Gandhi Mahal's "revival" and hardest hit employees is here: gofundme.com/f/real-one-gandhi-mahal-revival-fundraiser
And please, keep fighting with all you have for #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd because #BlackLivesMatter.