NEWS REPORT: No justice!
No peace! No justice! No peace!
No justice! No peace!
JONNI SCOTT: Racial tensions
were very high.
Every week, we were hearing
about another black person
being killed for no reason
other than just the color
of their skin.
And, being a person of color,
that was really hard for me.
I wanted to help
but I had no idea how.
PAOLA VELEZ: Bakers Against
Racism is an organization
that bakes to fight social
injustice around the world.
JONNI: Paola posted about it
on Instagram.
It was a call to action
for bakers to join together
to bake to make a change.
And I knew how to bake,
and I really wanted
to make a change.
PAOLA: Never did we expect us
to go viral within the first
few minutes of launching,
and never did we expect it
to go global.
It was 900 emails
within the first four hours,
and I was telling Rob and Willa,
“This is the update:
Mumbai, London, Paris.
There’s a group
in Australia participating!”
ROB RUBBA: You don’t have to be
a professional baker
in a restaurant you
just had to produce something
and sell it to your community.
We left the decision
up to the individual
to pick the organization
because every community
has different needs.
Some needs are way more pressing
than others in a different area
and it really
makes that connection
because this what’s gonna help
change is actual conversation
with individuals,
building relationships,
and that’s how you build
community and that’s what lasts.
That’s what makes things strong.
CHARBEL ABRACHE: As bakers,
we bring comfort through food.
In that moment,
that comfort needed to,
you know, be out there.
We decided to make our sorghum
and tahini cookies
for Bakers Against Racism.
JONATHAN BETHONY: The proceeds
of the bake sale went to
Three Part Harmony Farms.
It’s a two-acre urban farm
bringing food sovereignty
back to a community
JONNI: For the bake sale,
I made matcha and black
sesame shortbread cookies.
We sold 189 orders of cookies
and then I matched that
donation, so we raised
almost $2,000 dollars.
We donated the money
to Bartenders Against Racism.
SICILY SIERRA: For us as
Black folks,
bake sales,
selling plates, cookouts
have always been a thing.
It’s been our way
of activating our community,
getting the funds
and the engagement that we need
when we didn’t have resources.
This is just a new version
on a very classic take of how
we stay active and resilient.
PAOLA: Bake sales can be
very politically charged,
as I think food is very
political because
it holds all of our memories,
everything that we hold dear
in our cultures.
Miss Georgia Gilmore,
she was able to fund
the civil rights movement
by baking pies.
JONNI: It feels really good
to follow
in the footsteps of people
who've paved the way for us
to be doing what we're doing now
and it just it makes me feel not
only part of a bigger community,
but like part of history.
CHARBEL: With the skills
that I bring to my community,
maybe I don’t change
the entire world,
but for sure
I will change my neighborhood.
For sure I will change
my community
and that change will build up.
JONATHAN: My hope for the future
of this industry
is that we will realize
the tremendous power
that is between our hands
and the great responsibility
that we have.
PAOLA: We have so much more work
to do and change
doesn’t happen overnight,
but what our responsibility
is to do now,
is to keep going forward
and keep fighting
for what is right.
SICILY: Whether they realize
it or not,
they are our modern-day
Verna Maes, our Doctor Kings,
our Harriet Tubmans.
We think that we need so much
to be impactful,
but you can do a whole lot
with your little.
And this has proved that.
PAOLA: We actually don’t know
anymore how much money
we’re raising.
The last time that I stopped
counting,
it was well above $2.5 million.
We just want people
to keep raising money
and I don’t know, eat a cookie
and make some change.