Why this matters:
Located in one of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods, New Roots Community Farm is a key cultural asset that has served as a sanctuary for refugees, many of whom have been able to find grounding there after surviving life-altering violent conflict.
Refugee farmers at New Roots Community Farm took to direct action last Sunday – they refused to be locked out of the land they have tended for years.
A group of about 80 people, including at least 10 people with ties to the farm, opened the gate and entered to protest the organization that claims the right to manage the property. After police arrived, they agreed to exit back to the street where they had set up tents for a potluck, which the farmers had been planning since December.
The day’s events followed weeks of rising tensions between some New Roots farmers and the company managing the farm, the City Heights Community Development Corporation, driven by the farmers learning the CDC doesn’t have a lease on the property.
Demanding proof the CDC has a legal right to the land and not getting it, some farmers decided to file paperwork to create their own nonprofit with plans to manage the land themselves, inewsource reported last week.
Then earlier this month, the City Heights CDC told some of those farmers that by 6 p.m. Saturday their presence on the farm would be treated as criminal trespassing. Despite the warning, farmers went ahead with the Sunday event, celebrating the formation of their new organization on the side of the road in front of newly changed locks at New Roots.
Joined by community members, local organizations and gardeners from another community farm, the group discussed issues facing the farmers, made signs and eventually made their way onto the property.
“Show us the lease!” the group chanted.
The protest resulted in what for many of those gathered was a pivotal moment – when the San Diego police showed up and asked the City Heights CDC’s security guard to produce papers to the land, he was unable to do so.
“We don’t take sides on this,” the police officer said to the security guard. “I have no legal paperwork whatsoever, other than – no disrespect to you – your word versus their word.”
The officer also said that there was no letter of agency on file permitting him to make arrests on the property, contradicting what was stated on the “no trespassing” sign posted on the New Roots gate by the City Heights CDC. inewsource confirmed with the San Diego Police Department that there is no letter on file.
Located in one of San Diego’s most diverse neighborhoods, the farm is broadly recognized as part of a groundbreaking project that has provided a space for refugees from around the world to build community around diverse farming practices and crops. But as inewsource reported last month, the lease dispute has forged a rift in the community.
After several farmer’s refused to sign new leases with the CDC, asking the nonprofit to prove its tie to the land first, their agreements expired and the CDC told them to vacate the property.
In the case of one farmer, Fatima Abdelrahman, the CDC accused her of violating the garden code of conduct and threatened to end her lease immediately or at the end of the term. They also asked her to join a mediation. She didn’t agree, and her lease expired at the end of the year.
Abdelrahman has long been an advocate for New Roots, appearing in marketing materials for the farm on the CDC’s website.
She and other farmers told inewsource that they lost trust in the City Heights CDC because of its lack of transparency around the lease and the lack of pertinent information in languages they can understand.
The City Heights CDC has denied the allegations, and said it has made efforts to provide materials in needed languages. The CDC also said it attempted to have a conversation with Abdelrahman and offered to provide a translator.
Through a lawyer, Abdelrahman said she wouldn’t join the conversation unless the CDC proved it had rights to the land.
The farm was founded and previously operated by the International Rescue Committee in 2008 on a roughly 2.5 acre parcel of what documents refer to as city-owned public right-of way. The IRC managed the farm with a city-approved use permit that was valid for three-years. The IRC transferred responsibilities over to the City Heights CDC in 2020, an IRC spokesperson said.
In December, the City Heights CDC told inewsource it’s operating the farm in “good standing,” but it has not answered follow-up requests for documentation or further explanation.
A city spokesperson did confirm, however, that the city does not have a lease agreement with the CDC and directed inewsource to the CDC for “all questions on the oversight and administration of the community gardens.” The city also pointed inewsource to the city code that explains permits to run community gardens.
The spokesperson also said that “once the lease with the IRC concluded, the City did not move forward with an additional lease as the City is not the underlying fee title holder of this property.”
inewsource has asked the city to explain what that means, especially for any parties looking to manage the farm, and whether the CDC has an active permit or application for one. The city spokesperson declined to respond to those questions and others.
A potluck, a protest and police
Despite the rainy morning, the event drew a turnout of around 80 people. Farmers, members of the Tenant Councils of San Diego and community members set up canopy tents, laid down carpets, bringing to life the limited space on the sidewalk along the farm in front of the locked gates.
The event was also held as a part of Enero Zapatista, commemorating the 1994 uprising in Mexico focused around indigenous land rights.
Abdelrahman brought a full banquet of Sudanese food to add to the feast.
Some farmers who said they had current leases who were not participating in the event and who were told they had the most recent code to the gate were also not able to enter the farm. Worried about the rain and her crops, one of themose farmer cried in front of the security guard who would not let her in. The other brought several boxes of organic waste to add to his compost and had to leave it at the gate.
By group decision, the gathering transformed into action. Some members of the group held umbrellas and crowded around the gate, cutting the chain. As the crowd entered the property, a security guard hired by the City Heights CDC told them they were trespassing. The garden was soon full of farmers and community members bearing signs with slogans such as: “The land belongs to those who work with it.”
A short while later, five San Diego police cars showed up. But when the guard was unable to produce paperwork to prove that the City Heights CDC had a right to the land, the officer in charge said that all they could do was keep the peace. The protestors agreed to disperse. Two officers remained to watch over the process.
“In their place I feel shame,” Abdelrahman said about the City Heights CDC. “Why did they put themselves in this situation?”
“Hopefully this can reach city officials,” said Sahar Abdalla, Abdelrahman’s daughter.
Following the protest, the City Heights CDC posted signs, written in different languages, on the garden fence announcing the farm would be temporarily closed after a group of “former farmers” entered the property without permission. The organization also invited current farmers to a “listening session” to discuss options for reopening the farm.
