Recipes for Racial Tension Headaches: Black Lives Matter Movement and Self-Care(A Green Smoothie App

I attended the San Francisco Green Festival on November 11, 2012 to give a food demo. I think I may have been the only person presenting that included ”racial tension” and “racism” as descriptive words for my presentation. This is my first food demo I have ever given. I was nervous. Though posted over two years ago, I am reposting this in light of Black Lives Matter Movement and in response to the significant amount of stress and emotional pain I continue to go through, as an anti-racist vegan activist. I will be expanding upon these ideas for the Vegan Praxis of Black Lives Matter online Sistah Vegan conference at the end of April 2015. If you enjoy this and would like to see more videos that have ‘recipes for racial tension headaches’, please support us by donating to the Sistah Vegan Project.

About the video:

This comes from my years of work and personal experience of not being able to deal with the years of racist micro-aggressions to the overt direct in your face “Ima call you a n*gger”. I have talked about the days I have overdosed on vegan organic jelly beans after dealing with blatant white supremacist thinkers. And I have done this even though I know intellectually that I am not supposed to do that and then expect to feel ‘in harmony.’ So, when I was asked to participate in 2012, I decided that I would take the ‘bold’ step to send them my title, “Recipes for Racial Tension Headaches: Holistic Vegan Recipes to Combat the Stresses of Racism.” They accepted it. I was surprised LOL.

The audience was a mixed bunch but just about all the chairs were seated. I realized that people either were genuinely interested in what I had to say…. or were just staying through all food demos to get the free food at the end. Haha. So, maybe that is what I should do in the future when I talk about racism and white supremacy to a mainstream audience: offer food!

By the way, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the reference ‘racial tension headaches’, my demo was in response to this Saturday Night live skit with Queen Latifah who takes Excedrin for her racial tension headache.

Kale Smoothie Recipe for Racial Tension Headaches

3-4 Big leaves of Dino Kale or Lacinato Kale 1″ to 1.5 ” cube of fresh ginger ( I like more but sometimes 1.5″ is too much for beginners) 1 tsp Spirulina (Hawaiian Pacifica Brand) 1 tsp of Chlorella (Now Foods Chlorella) 1 medium to large Hass Avocado 1-2 pitted Medjool dates 1.5 tsp of apple cider vinegar 1/8 c raw pumpkin seeds 25 oz of water (fits big blenders like Vitamix) 1 tsp of Maca (Sol Raiz Organics brand)

Nettles Oatstraw Tea

Simmer 1/4 c of nettles leaves in 15oz of water for 3 minutes.
Turn off and then put in 2 heaping tbsp of oatstraw. Cover and let sit for an hour.
Strain and drink.

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