Thomas Ruggles 

Rooted East Knoxville

Practicing Collective Economics in the Food System: The Ujamaa Bartering Market, Saturday, December 6, 2:00 PM

Tom began doing food justice work 5 years ago, volunteering weekly with food distribution in East Knoxville. Here, he was introduced to a world vastly different from his ‘middle-class’ upbringing: whole communities struggling to find the sustenance they need to survive and grow. Through this experience and studies of our nation’s history and its roots in colonization, systemic racism, and economic exploitation, it became clear there was much more work to be done.

In 2022, he joined the Rooted East Knoxville Collective, which seeks to restore power to East Knoxville’s Black community through building a self-sufficient food system. He believes that we have the collective power to feed ourselves, and in realizing that power, not only will we have communities that are no longer hungry, but they will be more tight-knit and more prepared to come together to solve the other issues they face.