Revenge of DandeLions
Griot Collective
Revenge of DandeLions, Jaurice Moore
Baltimore poet and artivist Olu Butterfly Woods wrote, “the best revenge of dandeLions is living well even through concrete and weed whackers.” As human vessels of the wildest dreams of our Ancestors, the Revenge of DandeLions Griot Collective anchors our shared truths in this literary offering: we are resistant to the pesticides this society has tried to consistently poison us with, and the concrete enclosures designed to break our spirits have yet to truly contain us. Still we live well—through concrete and despite weed whackers.
The Revenge of DandeLions Griot Collective is a kinetic space for Black Thought on Black subcultural, primarily agrarian stories. The other side of our Ancestors striving for self-determination on the land has been land loss. We see the Black land loss crisis interwoven with economic justice, regenerative agriculture, plant-based holistic wellness, ecospiritualism, community sovereignty, and individual and communal narrative. Our intention is to inspire beloved community members to move more boldly and with purpose.
As Griots, our charge is to tell and keep our stories. Our stories hold more weight than those who sharecrop knowledge and seek to provide more access and opportunities for themselves—part of a lineage of destroyers who continue to perpetuate injustices against us while trying to create our salve, design our treatment, and document our realities. Much in the way that Dr. W.E.B. DuBois’ The Crisis catalogued the alarming phenomena affecting Black people in the early 20th century, we aim to use this space to engender powerful works that in turn, activate thought, action, and collective triumph. We root our effort in the Griot traditions, familial collectivism, and cooperative natures of our Ancestors.
The Gifts of the Sowers
We will get what we are owedWhether or not it is given to usor we give it to ourselvesWe have waited long enoughNo, we have struggled long enoughWe have been fighting long enoughWe have been deservingFrom birth We do not own this earthbut for centuries our ancestors...
Acres of Ancestry
“As long as I have a pig and a garden, no one can tell me what to do.” — Fannie Lou HamerFor the descendants of Africans living in the United States, pursuing justice for 1.5 million acres of stewarded Black family land. Mine our lineagesYou will find fortitude and...
On Grief, Land, & Ritual
O Death by Bessie Jones with Georgia Sea Island Singers By Nature’s Cycles Grief, in my own life, is the art of accepting life’s imperfections. My relationship with grief is not artful. Our negotiations are inelegant on the best days, and tortured during the worst...
Engage
The Cuban agroecologist Fernando Funes Monzote shared, "you make the path by walking."
Engage with our tribe on social media as we make our path toward collective liberation through the preservation of Black agrarian custodial landownership, ecological stewardship, and food and fiber economies in the South.