Sitting in a room filled with activists, community leaders and food justice advocates, I listened intently as Will Allen, an urban farmer working to provide healthy food to urban populations, spoke about the growth of his urban farm in Milwaukee and his plans to use his model to replace our current food system. As he went through his presentation, he came to a slide entitled corporate sponsors.  Making no attempt to hide his relationship with various corporations, in big bold letters in front of me, was Wal-Mart. How could Will Allen justify his involvement with Wal-Mart? How could a grassroots, social justice organization attempting to solve the issues plaguing our nation’s food system, partner with one of the leading corporations contributing to food and social injustice? When asked during the question and answer segment of the lecture how he could justify working with a corporation that is infamous for its exploitative labor practices and sexual discrimination, Allen simply answered we need to be non-judgmental.

In my early twenties, I still find myself imposing strong expectations on others and in my idealistic ways some issues for me are still very cut and dry. Will Allen is on the neoliberal bandwagon partnering with an organization that exploits the same people he is working so hard to empower. But how I found myself at this lecture, concerned with issues of food and social justice, although impossible to attribute to one significant event or occurrence in my life, is rooted in my journey to Brooklyn and my continuous questioning of right from wrong.

I was raised in a predominantly white middle class neighborhood in New Jersey where I lived with my mother, father and three older siblings. My parents raised me on traditional Jewish values where strong morals of right and wrong were always present. I attended public school through sixth grade when my parents decided we were going to move to Long Island where I would attend a Jewish school. Living on Long Island for the completion of middle school and high school, I struggled with ideas of religion and morality. I rejected religion but always felt a very strong inclination towards justice and standing up for I felt was wrong. Needless to say I presented a challenge to my school. While my siblings had moved out of the house by the time my family moved to Long Island, the influence my brother had on me remained with me for years to come.

Following in by brother’s footsteps I spent the year after high school abroad in Israel where I traveled, volunteered and studied. While I always enjoyed learning and took pride in doing well, I stubbornly refused to get caught up in the obsession over SAT scores and getting into a prestigious college. Finding little value in a higher education I left for the year with the intention of having fun and secretly hoping that all my life questions would be answered. Without finding the answers to all my questions, I did find that once interested and engaged I was able to succeed in school.

Through various influences in my life including my brother, sleep away camp and my year abroad, the strong connection I felt towards nature and my quest for justice was strengthened. But as my brother found his way towards Vermont where he became an organic farmer, I found myself living in Brooklyn, the “concrete jungle” with my parents. I had never been on a public bus and knew little about navigating the city. Having to adjust to a new lifestyle, especially after spending a year abroad, I truly felt like a “stranger in a strange land.” In my mind, after falling in love with camping, Vermont air and the leisure attitude of Israelis, Brooklyn was my enemy. However, within my first year of Brooklyn College, I stopped feeling sorry for myself, I stopped blaming my parents and I got involved. I fell in love with the independence Brooklyn allowed me, I fell in love with school and I allowed myself to feel at home in both the concrete of Brooklyn and in the fields of Vermont. Most importantly, I found activists and movements working on issues I felt passionately about right here in Brooklyn. My search for justice and questions of equality are now being explored through issues of food justice, environmental racism and urban sustainability.

And there I was. Sitting in a room filled with activists, community leaders and food justice advocates, the contradictions of the movement were clearer than ever-Will Allen needed the same people to help him that he was fighting against. Without having the courage to ask him, I wondered how he would feel about the proposal for a new Wal-Mart in East New York.  Looking to explore Wal-Mart and the impact it has on the neighborhoods it moves into, I want to know why East New York? What will happen to the various farms and urban gardens that have become a staple of the city? Do the residents support this proposal; does it even matter?