Minnesota food pantry bans white people, says ‘resources’ are only for ‘Black & Indigenous Folx’

The sign on the pantry reads: "The resources found in here are intended for Black & Indigenous Folx. Please refrain from taking anything if you're not." An August post emphasized the mission, saying "With the help of our community and MDH: African American Health Office we’ve distributed 2,249 lbs of food to Black & Indigenous Folx in North Minneapolis. This is what liberation looks like on a small scale. We’d like to say THANK YOU to everyone that has supported this initiative, donated their time or resources to be in aid of commUNITY."

Jackson's policy forced the food pantry to close down and open in another location. After opening on July 27 on the north side of the city, near the Sanctuary Covenant Church, Jackson let it be known that white people were not welcome to the food for the poor. Local chaplain Howard Dotson, 54, said that he went to the food pantry but was denied entry due to his race. He's white.

"This is not building community, it's destroying it," he told Alpha News. "I went over there and confronted her. I told her that I saw the sign and I asked if she really thought she could take grant money from the state and discriminate against poor white people." He filed a complaint, which Jackson said was an exhibition of his "white privilege."

Jackson said that "There was no one there directly turning them away. They felt entitled to the resources that were not for their demographic - white privilege is real," going on to say that Dotson had engaged in "political violence."

"The F.T.P Bodega is currently closed while we prepare for its relocation to Za’Rah Wellness," Jackson wrote on Instagram. "We’d like to thank Sanctuary Church for their initial partnership which allowed us to make an idea into a reality. This project has been a huge learning experience and as we navigate through our mission we are becoming more aligned with our community and the work we are trying to do."

She also said that the Sanctuary Church "may not be fully aligned with our mission," which she attributed to "a recent incident with a 'Karen.'"

"Although the church likes our concept they feel our commitment towards directing these resources towards Black & Indigenous families ONLY is exclusionary to other POC & White members of the community that use their establishment," she said.

A taxpayer funded Paths to Black Health grant providing the capital for Jackson to open the food pantry, called Food Trap Project. That granting program is intended to address and reduce health disparities for black Americans while contributing to the community and helping it thrive.

The granting program states that the purposes for the program are to "Identify disparities impacting African American health arising from cumulative and historical discrimination and disadvantages in multiple systems. These may include, but are not limited to, housing, education, employment, gun violence, incarceration, environmental factors, and health care discrimination," and to "Develop community-driven solutions that incorporate a multisector approach to addressing identified disparities impacting African American health."

In an Instagram post, Jackson justified the reason for prohibiting white people from using the food pantry. "Did you know?!" She wrote, "White neighborhoods have an average of four times as many supermarkets as predominantly Black communities. While this number may be a shock to some it very much reflects current conditions amongst many BIPOC neighborhoods who’ve been classified as a 'food desert'.

"You may have heard of food deserts, which refer to areas void of fresh, affordable food, but the term alone does not challenge the systemic racism that develops these areas in the first place. Which is why more people are using the term coined by food justice activist Karen Washington, 'food apartheid.'

"America’s food system, like so many other systems, too often overlooks communities of color. The term 'food apartheid' encompasses the systematic lack of access to healthy foods and takes into account race, geography, and economics. This intersectional approach to understanding America’s food system attributes a lack of access to healthy food, which disproportionately affects communities of color, to our country’s history of systemic racism.

"It is the ways in which these neighborhoods have come about through racist policies of redlining and other forms of systematic discrimination that has bred the types of food apartheid that we see today. As we look forward and imagine a fundamentally different system that nourishes all people and the planet, it’s important to use proper terminology, address root causes, redistribute power, and be guided by people with lived experience in food apartheids."

The Santuary Church said they were essentially misled by the food pantry project and by Jackson, saying "When Mykela Jackson approached us to set up her Food Trap Project we were excited to support her. This would be a place accessible to anyone 24./7. No demographic [information] necessary. Anyone in need would be welcome.

"Nowhere in her original proposal did she indicate that she would be restricting usage to specific communities. This does not align with the vision and mission of the Sanctuary.

"When we discovered her signage and social media posts, we asked her to abide by her original proposal. Ms. Jackson was unable to do so and decided to move her Food Trap elsewhere. The deadline for moving her trap is 9/30. We've already cut power to it."