Connecting with our ancestors by returning to African agrarian practices and bringing plants native to our ancestral homelands into our environment is healing for Black people in a world that often denies us access to greenery, frivolity, healthy food options, and full access to our history.

Because of redlining, white flight, and structural racism, Black people are less likely to have access to green spaces — parks, community gardens, playgrounds, woody vegetation, and so on— and supermarkets in their communities.

Everyone may not be able to start a food pantry in their community right away, but D’Real encourages diasporic Africans to try other alternatives: “Add a snake plant, a pulp dose, or a philodendron to [your] bedroom, to [your]interior environment if [you] have privileged access.”

Because of redlining, white flight, and structural racism, Black people are less likely to have access to green spaces — parks, community gardens, playgrounds, woody vegetation, etc. — and supermarkets in their communities.

By buying houseplants of our own, starting fruit and vegetable gardens, and paying more attention to where we get our food and what is in the products around us, we are connecting with our ancestors, returning to our indigenous ways of knowing, and creating healthy habits that will serve the Black community today and for generations to come.

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