In society we have grown accustomed to believing that power is a given and rightly belongs to people who are predominately white, male and rich. On the other hand, people of color, especially Black people, are told that there is a ladder of success one must climb in order to achieve or be granted power (a power that is not guaranteed).

As a food activist, I have confronted many powerful people and organizations. In food systems, I have been told that the food system is broken and needs to be fixed. Many people believe just that, and yet they want to fix it with the same bureaucratic system of oppression. I, on the other hand, beg to differ. The food system does not need to be fixed; it needs to change, and that change means shifting power, power- power into the hands of the community. People are first shocked by that admission. People in underserved communities wanting power? Hell, yeah and deservingly so. First and foremost, communities seeking power don’t want to be asked what they need; rather, they want to be asked what they want. To need is a position of deficit; to want is a position of power.

Yet there are people with power and privilege who are not willing to give it up; instead, they want more power. I tell people with power: you have three things you can offer. One, share it; two, give it up; or three, have it taken away from you. Welcome to the new food revolution, but we are not there yet. However, we have seen how power can be taken away from those who hold it. We saw this during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, civil and women’s rights movements, and Black Lives Matter. And let’s not forget it was enslaved people who ended slavery, not President Lincoln.

I look at what is going on in this country, with a few people in power controlling the lives of many. To counteract this imposition, you are now seeing people coming together, forming cooperatives, coalitions and ecosystems to share resources, capital, tactics and strategies to combat the oligarchs. Just imagine if the whole labor force in this country stopped working for a week, maybe even days – who would have power? Or if we all stopped using social media for a few days. This is what we can do together to make change. We can do this; we are doing this. ¡Si Se Puede!

Let us be reminded that, America’s power comes from the diversity of its multicultural, linguistic, rhythmic, fashionista, creative, toe-tapping, foot-stomping people!

A word of caution: the only thing that we must be careful of when creating power is not to replicate the oppressor. Power is like a drug and can easily be manipulated to do just that. In the meantime, power to the people!