[The following story is from our sister news org, The Stranger, about CHAZ—the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, which is a six block area that was deserted by police after days of rancorous protest. Since then Cap Hill citizens have turned it into a peaceful, street fair-style gathering offering free food, documentaries, books, concerts, and medical help. And also? Gardens!—eds]
Of all the horrors emerging from the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, perhaps none is so menacing as the sight of a community garden full of tomato seedlings sprouting inside of coronavirus circles.
(Imagine reading that sentence three months ago.)
Photos from the heart of the CHAZ show that someone has put dirt in the mowed-over circles, which were originally intended to promote social distancing, and that modest gardens are now arising in the spot that in previous summers hosted movie nights. So who’s responsible? Are they actually expecting to feed themselves on those crops? What does this have to do with Black Lives Matter?
“It was real organic,” shrugs Marcus Henderson. “I came here with a shovel.”
For Marcus, this was a perfect opportunity to put his experience to work for a cause.
“We’re dealing with a question of how Black people have been disenfranchised for so long, pulled out of the economic system,” he says. “One way of doing that is not giving people access to land.”
Going all the way back to emancipation, he points out, farming has been an important way for Black people to gain autonomy and self-sufficiency. But Black land ownership, particularly in the farming sector, has dropped precipitously over the last century; in the 1920s, America had nearly a million Black-owned farms. By the 1970s, it was down to less than 50,000.
Nobody expects the little Cal Anderson plots to be a sustainable source of food for all of the protesters. But they’re a demonstration of how land can be put to better use — and of the importance of land ownership for Black Americans. That idea has motivated much of Marcus’ work; when he began his career, he was engaged with policy and planning. But he soon saw that if he wanted to make real change he’d have to get his hands dirty.
His planning background is evident when you watch him work. During our conversation, volunteers continuously interrupted to ask him questions: Someone just brought compost, where should it go? Marcus supplied instructions for containing it in tarps. A woman arrived and explained that she’s been out of work for weeks and wanted to volunteer in her neighborhood, where is she needed? He pointed her toward some watering cans. A bystander asked about creating green corridors throughout the city for pollinators; for the moment, that’s beyond the scope of this installation.
All of the plants, tools, and dirt have been supplied by neighbors, with more donations arriving each day. Standing amidst the seedlings, surveying the little circles of life, Marcus seems tired, bemused, and also proud.
“I’m just a guy,” he says, “who’s passionate about land.”