Today was meant to be New Harvest Day ’25 at Diaspora Spice Co. A big day that we’ve all been working toward for months — where we celebrate and launch the freshest harvests of the year, from our incredible farm partners across India and Sri Lanka. But how can I get on here and celebrate abundance while our communities are being terrorized by ICE?
Diaspora is proudly immigrant-owned and led. We stand firmly with all those resisting ICE. We stand against raids, detentions, and deportations. We stand with our undocumented community. No one is illegal on stolen land.
I already know the comments that are coming: “Why do you keep talking about politics?” “Just stick to selling spices.” But the truth is: immigration policy is trade policy, is foreign policy, is food policy. Everything is political. Spices are political. Who grows them, who harvests them, who gets paid — that’s all politics, baby. Morning buns rely on cardamom, that mostly comes from Guatemala. Apple pie needs cinnamon to taste good, that’s indigenous to Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Good old hotdogs need coriander, that comes from India. Soft serve needs vanilla, which is very much Mexican.
We run a business that relies on 150 farmers and over 3000 farm workers in South Asia — how can we stay silent when 42% of farm workers here in the U.S. are undocumented, performing the essential, grueling work of keeping us fed? Undocumented folks are the most unseen, underpaid, and disrespected group in this country — yet they do the indispensable jobs no one else wants to, at a fraction of a fair wage.
I was lucky to become an American citizen in January of this year, 96 years after the first member of my family first came to this country. That wasn’t a result of merit or hard work or virtue. That was luck, and access, and the result of racist immigration policy and proximity to capital. Unless you’re Indigenous, we are all settlers.
We don’t fight today for undocumented folks because of their labor, we fight for them because they are integral members of our community who deserve a safe place to live, regardless of their access to papers. We resist. We speak up. And we fight for the America we know is possible.
P.S. — and yes, New Harvest Day will now be Saturday, June 21st. If you were looking forward to a spice restock today, several of your faves are now back: Kashmiri Saffron, Baraka Cardamom, Pahadi Pink Garlic, Peni Miris Cinnamon, and more!
In love, in grief, in rage, and in solidarity,
Sana Javeri Kadri
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