(THE COLLEGE FIX) – A community farm run by the University of California at Berkeley only allows “people of color” to participate on Saturdays, according to a new federal complaint. The report to the Department of Education accuses the Gill Tract Community Farm of racial discrimination in violation of Title VI.
Run by the public university, the farm is a research, education, and extension project “focused on ecological farming and food justice,” according to its website. It welcomes the public to harvest food if they “help with weeding, planting, and watering.”
However, the Mountain States Legal Foundation, which filed the complaint last week, said the program discriminates against white people. “Saturdays are exclusively BIPOC,” a farm manager wrote in a series of text messages cited in the complaint. “Exceptions have only been made for events that are BIPOC-centered and with plenty of advance notice and planning.”
