Herbal Justice: Why expanding our mutual aid networks to include herbal medicine is exactly what we need.
By Leena Unger
Keeping the revolutionary self in good health may seem like a huge obstacle as we navigate the cold and flu season on top of a pandemic, on top of calls for community organizing and emotional burn out, but it doesn’t have to be.
As COVID-19 has made tough times tougher for many, mutual aid work has become increasingly visible. From Food Not Bombs doing daily meal distribution at the Cherry Street garage to little free pantries popping up all over town and beyond, our community is standing in solidarity with those who need support. It isn’t charity. It’s about building relationships and engaging in reciprocity as a foundation to much of the social justice and community transformation work, as seen in the Burlington Battery Park Movement for example. We need mutual aid in moments of crisis (like this pandemic) but we also need it the rest of the time that we are surviving a flawed and violent capitalist system. This is where herbal justice comes in.
Organizing power is built from relationships of community, but rest and self-care are equally important and revolutionary. In the midst of a pandemic layered on an inadequate health care system, herbal remedies sustain our health and by extension, sustain mutual aid. So, what is herbal justice? It’s a term used to refer to the interconnection of herbalism to social and environmental justice. Collective healing is part of collective liberation and our health is deeply intertwined with the health both our communities and the earth.
As we face the huge task of anti-racist work, herbal medicine is a great ally in the decolonizing of our relationship to medicine, helping to address the disparities surrounding access, affordability, and long-term health by building our wellness sovereignty. The plants cultivated in our gardens or foraged in our green spaces are so accessible. By sharing the knowledge and skills to engage in community healing and health we reclaim agency. By learning herbalism through anti-oppressive lenses herbalists are able to use their skills to confront the legacies of racist systems. We must reconcile the appropriation and theft of indigenous traditions and transform the way we heal as we seek to repair that damage.
At the center of this work are powerhouse BIPOC herbalists that are centering their own healing and the health of their communities. Candace Taylor, for example, is a Black Herbalist living in Winooski who has been sending out herbal care packages to BIPOC community members. She is also in the process of turning her urban homestead into a Wholeness Center dedicated to reconnecting BIPOC folks with the land and with herbal medicine.
Many individual herbalists are already engaging herbal justice. On a larger scale, organizations like the Vermont chapter of Herbalists without Borders coordinate the sending of supplies to mutual aid groups and communities across the country that ask for herbal medicine. Railyard Apothecary, a local business that connects people to herbs, information and resources, also runs an herbal justice fund to support this work..
Herbal medicine is an ally in self and community care allowing us all to engage in the work of creating a world in which everyone can thrive. Maybe it looks like coordinating with Food Not Cops to include herbal remedies in their distribution or donating to BIPOC Herbalists working in their communities. Maybe it starts with a cup of tea containing immune supporting herbs before you take to the streets again. The beauty of herbal justice is that it comes in many forms and leaves us space to participate in whatever way feels authentic. What does that look like for you?