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8 Community Food Security “For Us, By Us” The Nation of Islam and the Pan African Orthodox Christian Church Priscilla McCutcheon If Black people could secure sufficient power to maintain a balance it might be possible for Black people and white people to live together as two separate peoples in one country. Black people must remain separate using the separateness that already exists as a basis for political power, for economic power, and for the transmission of cultural values. . . . The only hope for peace in America depends upon the possibility of building this kind of Black power. . . . A Black Nation within a nation must come into being if we are to survive. For the Black man everything must be judged in terms of Black liberation. There is but one authority and that is the Black experience. (Cleage 1972, xxxvii) This excerpt is from Black Christian Nationalism written by Albert Cleage. In it he describes his beliefs and methods on how blacks should empower themselves in what he deems to be a white supremacist society. This book also provides an ideal starting point for exploring how two Black Nationalist religious organizations are using food not only as a means to address hunger, but also as a tool of empowerment among blacks. In 1999, the Pan African Orthodox Christian Church (PAOCC) completed the purchase of over 1,500 acres of farmland on the border of Georgia and South Carolina to build a self-sustaining community called Beulah Land Farms. Their land acquisition has now grown to over 4,000 acres. Albert Cleage (1972), the founder of the PAOCC, envisioned a place where members of the church would come together, but also a place where inner-city youth would be exposed to nature and farmland. The Nation of Islam (NOI) purchased over 1,556 acres of rural South Georgia farmland in 1994, naming it Muhammad Farms. Its expressed purpose is to feed the forty million black people in America (Muhammad 2005). The NOI was founded by Master Fard Muhammad and led for decades by Elijah Muhammad. Its most notable leader, Malcolm X, strongly believed in black landownership and its importance in achieving self-sufficiency. While both organizations’ work around food and health 178 Chapter 8 is heavily influenced by their self-proclamation as Black Nationalist religious organizations, the NOI and the PAOCC define Black Nationalism in two distinct ways. Food is not simply used to address hunger, but also to build community among blacks. Food is a part of a larger ideology of Black Nationalism, in which self-reliance and the individual achievements of blacks are linked to the “black community” at large. Black Nationalism is one of the six political ideologies that Michael Dawson (2001) describes in his seminal work Black Visions. Dawson argues that “popular support for black nationalism continues to be based on the time-tested skepticism in black communities that, when it comes to race, America will live up to its liberal values” (Ibid., 86). Black Nationalism is the belief that race and racial discrimination are at the center of the black experience in America and must be addressed by blacks if this group is to ever achieve any tangible progress. Elijah Muhammad, one of the key founders and leaders of the NOI, fervently preached the need for blacks to look beyond the dream of integrating into a white society that devalued every aspect of black life. Instead, he asserted that blacks should develop their own racial identity, and effectively form a psychological and geographically separate nation from whites to promote the true liberation of blacks (Muhammad 1997a). Historically, the PAOCC does not define black liberation as a geographic separation from whites. Instead psychological separation is key so that blacks can develop their own institutions that serve their identities and interests (Cleage 1972). When blacks secure a sufficient amount of equality and power, Cleage argues that only then will it be possible for blacks and whites to live together in the United States but still utilize separate institutions. The recent philosophy of the PAOCC builds on the organization ’s historical belief of blackness as a unifying factor. The PAOCC asserts that blackness alone should not be the sole organizing factor, but issues including class must also be considered. Blackness then, is complicated and cannot be portrayed as simply white vs. black or us vs. them. Both the NOI and the PAOCC are using their work around food and agriculture to promote some aspects...

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