Tony Changemakers Storytelling Initiative
When we talked, Tony was calling in from Chirp Creek Farm in Lisbon, where he walked around the fields as he recounted his life story. Partway through, one of Tony’s biggest hunting mentors, Paul, tried to start a conversation with him. He told Paul he was in a meeting, and they both laughed it off as they continued to work in the sunshine. Tony’s upbeat, welcoming attitude continued throughout the call. He described how good it feels that an organization with the resources of changemakers found interest in his story, when he’s, “just being himself.” The biggest way Changemakers has impacted him is emotionally, giving a sense of encouragement that others value what’s important to him.
Tony’s life began in Baltimore, Maryland. As a young Black boy, the legacy of slavery in the United States left him and his family without a lot of money. He lacked the academic opportunities that more wealthy and privileged folks had. However, he always makes sure to acknowledge that he was better off than some of the others in his neighborhood, and there was still a lot of joy and learning in his childhood years. His father was a country boy who moved to Baltimore, and Tony says he, “was a hunter, but not exactly the type of hunter that comes to mind in the modern American context.” Tony’s father taught him and his siblings how to use their own hands and tools to provide for themselves and their community. He remembers going on fishing trips and bringing the extra catch to the church in order to share it with the neighborhood. He also has memories of how his family used to laugh at tourists that would pay for expensive crab in restaurants, while they bought chicken nets and caught crabs themselves. And so it was from his family that Tony inherited his love of hunting, fishing, and eating. He told me excitedly, “I was a hungry boy…There’s an expression: food is the way to a man’s heart. Food was the way to my heart. I. Like. Food.” His Auntie Carol held the Trinidadian ancestral knowledge of which spices and plants to use and how, which Tony says made her cooking the most impressive he’s ever eaten. Black Women like his Auntie have had a huge impact on his life, especially on his love of food.
Ready to leave Baltimore, Tony went on to attend Bowdoin College in Brunswick, where he studied French and Spanish. He now lives in Lewiston with his partner, where he attends to their small garden and works as the garden engagement coordinator for St. Mary’s Nutrition Center. He says, “What I like about this job is it’s allowed me to learn a lot,” mainly about plants, which he’s glad to apply to his personal life. Tony is a lifelong learner, always looking to feed his curiosity. He summarized everything that’s important to him: satiating his curiosity (even if it’s dangerous), and living in freedom, without being controlled.
Continuing to learn how to hunt, garden, and forage saves him money, proving that necessity is the best motivator, “I can’t remember the last time I’ve gone to the store to buy meat. I hope that this continues for the rest of my life.” Not only is this more affordable, but it’s created, “Freedom from the institution of money, and the creation of money, because it is a creation, it’s not real. If you get money, you can't eat that. If you see a plant you can eat that and you can actually survive off of that in a very direct way.” He also wants freedom from the racist structures that have been worked into American food systems, he wants a reclamation of hunting, fishing and gardening. Tony described how Africa was the original birthplace of agriculture, “we as a people are the first farmers, the first lovers of animals. I take that to heart. My most immediate ancestor (his Father) has the same ancient connection to the land and to the seas. And that’s definitely a big part of the reason why I do what I do.” He explained that European colonizers didn’t take idiots from Africa, they intentionally took the most skilled individuals and used their knowledge, enslaving them in a capitalist, exploitative system. The farther he can remove himself and those around him from capitalist systems of greed, the better. He explained how White folks have prioritized the efficiency and profit of food production over anything else, and says, “I feel like me trying to fish for my food, instead of going to the store to buy fish, is something that allows me to connect with not even just my ancestry, but the ancestry of people all over this planet that have survived this way for years.”
Tony’s vision for the future is to cultivate a community where there are fishers, hunters, and everyone is gardening and trading their harvests, so that no one has to spend their money at the grocery store. He emphasizes, “Food should be virtually free, and I say virtually free because you have to put time into it.”