ICYMI: Can Free Fridges Avoid “Poverty Porn”?

Extra Spicy

So this week, we were planning to publish an open conversation between Soleil Ho and Justin Phillips about crimes against Asian people, from the March 16 Atlanta shootings, to high profile violent incidents in the Bay Area captured on video that often showed Black aggressors. And we’re going to be honest: we weren’t quite sure how to put our feelings into words. We had recorded one version of this episode, but we realized we needed more time to process so we’re going to take another week.

So in the meantime, we would love to hear from you: What do you make of all this — and how do we end it? You can send us your responses by sending us a voice recording to [e-mail], or you can also leave us a voicemail at 415-777-6156. We really hope to hear from you, and we look forward to including your thoughts on next week’s episode.

For now, we want to leave you with a longer version of one of our favorite episodes from Season 1. Gabriela Alemán of the Mission Meals Coalition and Ashley Rahimi Syed of SF Community Fridge teamed up to bring a fridge stocked with fresh food to San Francisco’s Mission District amid the pandemic. They talk about protecting the dignity of those they serve, and mitigating the “performative” aspect of some of the giving.

Read a transcript of our conversation with Gabriela and Ashley, and send us your questions about food, life and everything you're obsessed with at sfchronicle.com/spicy. | Get full Chronicle access: sfchronicle.com/pod

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