“Corner Store Justice: Food Sovereignty and Solidarity in the Inner City”- Ahmad Jitan, 5/3 @ 4:30pm

Almost two years ago, the world witnessed the brutal murder of George Floyd by the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department, after employees at an immigrant-owned convenience store called the police to report a counterfeit bill. Unfortunately, we know that the conditions that led to this horrific event did not arise just two years ago, and are very much still present today as the struggle for racial justice continues. This event will address how the “corner store” represents the realities of the inner-city as a racialized space crafted by decades of disinvestment, food apartheid, red-lining, criminalization, and violent policing.

Ahmad Jitan is a community organizer with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) in Chicago. As part of their holistic model of health, wellness, and healing developed over the last 25 years, the corner store has been one of the primary sites of intervention. Ahmad will be talking about his work with IMAN’s Corner Store campaign, and their efforts to transform Chicago’s corner stores from sites of exploitation to ones of solidarity and healing, and a model for racial and economic justice. He will also address the challenges of solidarity across different marginalized groups (in this case, Palestinian immigrant store-owners and the local mostly black residents of those neighborhoods), and will consider how grassroots organizing can bridge these divides and work towards meaningful solidarity, collaborative business models, and relational power.

Co-sponsors: Religion Department, Davis Center, Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (OIDEI), Zilkha Center, American Studies, Africana Studies, Arabic Studies, Center for Learning in Action (CLiA), Chaplains’ Office, Muslim Student Union, Black Student Union, Students for Justice in Palestine

* Mask and proof of COVID-19 vaccination or Williams ID required