Guest Post by Hardscrabble Farmer
The other night I stumbled across a small documentary, and having heard nothing about the back story in the media (for reasons that will become evident) I was riveted by the multiple layers of what was a much larger story than it claimed to be.
In short, a wealthy, local businessman, tired of waiting for an economic turnaround in his corrupt and bankrupt city, decides to spend his own money in order to bring about a large scale urban agriculture project to the blighted streets of East Detroit. You would think that it would be an easy choice to side with him, understanding that his motivations were almost entirely selfless, and that the cost of the project was his alone to bear and that the end result would benefit people living in abject poverty and blight.
He neither sought, nor received public funding of any kind. He agreed to pay off the tax liens on scores of abandoned properties, most of which were burned out building or vacant lots filled with trash. He would- if the project was successful- bring an opportunity for fresh food to a neighborhood that has been classified as a ‘food desert’ due to the complete lack of grocery stores or farmer’s markets, and to provide employment in one of the single worst urban economies in the US.
The problem? He was not Black in a city that sees everything through a prism of Race.
The film slowly and methodically lays bare the divisions and fault lines present throughout our body politic; Race, class, bureaucracy, criminality and corruption. It shows the underlying hostility of the various opponents of the project through interviews, allowing them to communicate their seething hatred of anything and everything that represents their perceived enemies, regardless of the value brought to the table.
It also sheds light on the Quixotic altruism of decent human beings, and their inability to see those who do not possess such values as fundamentally different. This almost pathological kindness is exposed, not as a strength, but as a flaw. Were it not for an equal measure of grit and determination, the entire narrative could have gone in a completely different direction.
Unlike most documentaries of this type it is almost impossible to see the final outcome through the twists and turns of the director’s vision, and this is reflected by the people in the community trying to come to grips with change- any change- to a situation they feel is inescapable. As in all things, change is the only constant and the conclusion shows this, not only on the effects of the project’s inevitable outcome to the City of Detroit, but in the hearts of the people who made the journey through to the end.
Our entire system is built upon a series of perfidious illusions, and illogical policies, all of which are designed to keep us enslaved in some way or another to the system itself. The improvements required and the solutions to our deepest problems do not, and have never come from the top down, but from the soil upon which the population lives and makes it’s stand. The final shot and of the film with it’s poignant chyron underscores this point profoundly, and leaves the viewer almost breathless.
For those who still believe in the power of the individual to overcome all odds in order to make things right, you could not find a more moving and inspiring film.
LAND GRAB // Trailer from Atlas Industries on Vimeo.
