”Born and Raised in Seattle and the son of two well-educated professionals, Raymond Williams is biracial and identifies as African American. These identities have allowed him the privilege of moving in the world of the educated (AB Harvard ’79) and given him the calling to serve his community. A community that continues to have disparities in both educational and health outcomes. A community that continues to show its brilliance through five-hundred years of enslavement, Jim Crow, redlining and police brutality.

Ray spent the summers of his youth running through the northwest’s forests and exploring tide pools or visiting a family friend's farm.  His family had a garden in Seattle, and he planted one at most of the places he lived. For almost 30 years he shared his fascination and love of nature as a science teacher. Majoring in biology and studying education at University of Washington (M.Ed. ’91), he taught in Seattle, Atlanta, and International School of Curacao. 

His position at The Art Institute of Seattle, teaching both biology and nutrition, formed a vision of how he might serve. Not on a committee making recommendations, but working on the ground, building community. Most of our health problems are related to diet and stress, this is especially true for the Black community.

For fifteen (15) years he worked in and built community gardens and shared with youth and adults how to grow food. When the opportunity to farm the freeway right of way in central Seattle presented itself, the Black Farmers Collective and Yes Farm was born. As Co-Founder and Special Projects Director, Ray is passing the work of community healing on to a growing staff of farm managers and emerging farmers.”

To support Black Farmers Collective, learn about upcoming spring opportunities by subscribing to their newsletter – https://www.blackfarmerscollective.com/volunteerwithbfc. 

If you enjoyed the podcast, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Mirror Stage via our website at mirrorstage.org/donate and follow us on social media. 

Learn more about us on socials: 

Facebook: http://facebook.com/mirrorstage 

Instagram: http://instagram.com/mirrorstagewa 

A machine-readable transcript of the episode is available here – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D7XQfVGIjN5vZP-aUZqmLd_wB8WRHYPtS-dIc3GUD-w/edit?usp=sharing 

Episodes release on the fourth Wednesday of the month. See you in January!

All episode music by Podington Bear, Chad Crouch. Nature sounds from ZapSplat. Podcast intro, outro, and interstitial music by Benjamin Marx.