Jake Whiteness in Farmer's Markets

I want to quick start this off by saying my own view of farmer's markets is skewed since I associated them with the Amish and Mennonites. This is a regional niche and an exception to the rule, so my perception of what a "farmer's market" is was already noticeably different that the average person.

Onto the article itself, I fully support the "defetishing" of food, although there has got to be a better term for it. Farmers at farmer's markets are separate from the corporate agriculture and people are being misled by the demographic differences present at farmers markets. I'm not as concerned as people thinking their food all comes from white people, but that they believe that these farm workers are able to support themselves off their work. We've talked about how these farm workers are often those most affected by poverty, so having people think the agriculture industry is taking good care of it's workers only helps sustain a system in need of change. I really think our national education system should work on trying to educate kids on what the wider world looks like. When you wear clothing, how did it get into your hands? If you bought it, where? How did they get the clothing? Who made the clothing? How was the material to get it sourced? I loved watching Mike Rowe's "Dirty Jobs" growing up and seeing the work we need to do that society doesn't glamorize. We all recognize that Christmas gifts don't really come from Santa, but many people's understanding of where basic life goods come from is about as deep as "Santa delivers them", and I can't personally fault them. They just weren't taught, although ideally they would've been more curious about it.

I see how farmers markets being so white can make minorities not want to partake in them and therefore continue inequality. I also believe that the traits that make up affluent, liberal whiteness are big drivers of farmers markets, and instead of altering the system to amen it, effort should be spent trying to promote whatever would appeal to these people. "Community gardens" or something like that. I don't think it's fair to criticize well-meaning whites for "whitewashing" everything just by being so enthusiastic about it.

Similarly, I don't like forwarding the narrative of white "privilege" out of a sense of practical change. Telling someone they got special treatment they did not earn makes them defensive. Many people take that to belittle the genuine struggle they have faced. Instead I believe we should try to help those who have been born outside of opportunities. People won't get nearly as defensive if you tell them many people were born into greater struggles then them, since it doesn't invalidate *their own* personal struggles. The yeoman picture, which is more or less what I've been talking about as the "American Gothic" perception of American agriculture, is certainly something that historically would've only been possible for whites in this country. Instead of saying that whites ought to carry a sort of burden to recognize and try and offset their own privilege, if that effort were instead spent on uplifting the discriminated, I believe we'd see less tension in this discourse.

Finally, I think the part about long-term residents saying the farmers market is more about the residents than it is the students is to say it is about whites is a stretch. There is a disconnect between the people who live in a city versus those who are only there for the college. Planning on being on an area for only ~4 years and leaving, versus having raised a family in an area are entirely different levels of connection.

Side note: The lack of non-white holidays celebrated at the two farmers markets the paper talked about did strike me as odd, as the "affluent, liberal white culture" I've come to know absolutely LOVES celebrating "ethnic holidays". No Dia de los Muertos celebration in a California farmer's market was genuinely surprising.