Tlayo’s Tomorrow
Seeking justice for Mother Earth and her children
Niria Alicia Garcia and her partner Luke Nephew are social justice activists residing with their 2-year-old son Tlayo at Canticle Farm, an intergenerational, interracial, and interfaith urban farming community in the Fruitvale neighborhood in East Oakland, California. As an Xicana environmental activist, human rights advocate and educator, Garcia organizes indigenous-led species restoration efforts in California’s Sacramento River watershed. She serves as an organizer in multiple environmental justice groups, such as the People’s Climate Movement, SustainUS!, Earthjustice, Our Children’s Trust, Women’s Earth Alliance, and No More Deaths. Garcia is also one of the lead organizers of Run4Salmon in collaboration with Chief Caleen Sisk and the Winnemem Wintu Tribe and raises awareness about the health of California’s waterways’ biodiversity and the endangered status of the salmon, in addition to hosting events that advocate for ecosystem restoration. Garcia has earned the national “Emerging Leader Award” from GreenLatinos and was named the “Young Champion of the Earth for North America” by the United Nations for her efforts. Garcia also serves as a board member for Greenpeace, Inc., a nonprofit organization that addresses environmental issues through research, campaigns, and advocacy.
Nephew is a social justice poet and songwriter hailing from the Bronx. After a young African American male was killed by police in his apartment complex in New York City, Nephew was inspired to join the Peace Poets and began writing poetry and songs about the service of social movements. Nephew travels the world writing songs that protestors use in marches to peacefully advocate for justice.
Nephew and Garcia were attracted to the mission of Canticle Farm, an urban farm located on 36th Avenue and Harrington Avenue in East Oakland. Along with their young son Tlayo, Nephew and Garcia are among approximately 40 residents who live at this intentional community that experiments at the intersections of faith-based, social-justice-based and Earth-based nonviolent activism. Like the other residents at Canticle Farm, Nephew and Garcia conduct their social justice work through their core values of community, service, spirituality, nonviolence, regeneration, simplicity, and healing of historical divides. Through the community found at Canticle Farm, Nephew and Garcia are overcoming the challenge of raising a young son while being global leaders in environmental and social justice.
Nephew is a social justice poet and songwriter hailing from the Bronx. After a young African American male was killed by police in his apartment complex in New York City, Nephew was inspired to join the Peace Poets and began writing poetry and songs about the service of social movements. Nephew travels the world writing songs that protestors use in marches to peacefully advocate for justice.
Nephew and Garcia were attracted to the mission of Canticle Farm, an urban farm located on 36th Avenue and Harrington Avenue in East Oakland. Along with their young son Tlayo, Nephew and Garcia are among approximately 40 residents who live at this intentional community that experiments at the intersections of faith-based, social-justice-based and Earth-based nonviolent activism. Like the other residents at Canticle Farm, Nephew and Garcia conduct their social justice work through their core values of community, service, spirituality, nonviolence, regeneration, simplicity, and healing of historical divides. Through the community found at Canticle Farm, Nephew and Garcia are overcoming the challenge of raising a young son while being global leaders in environmental and social justice.
Luke Nephew feeds 2-year-old son Tlayo a strawberry while his partner Niria Alicia Garcia prepares breakfast for the family in their home at Canticle Farm in Oakland, CA. According to Garcia, the couple strives to spend quality time together as much as possible with their son when at home, as they both spend a great deal of time traveling to other states and countries to lead protests for various social justice causes.
Garcia follows her son Tlayo through the gardens of Canticle Farm for a play date. One of the pillars of Canticle Farm is valuing the sacredness of the land upon which people live and promoting urban permaculture, food security, and holistic health and food sovereignty through organic gardening. Garcia is teaching Tlayo the value of sustainable urban farming and being a responsible steward of the planet. According to Garcia, “If you take care of the land and the water, they will take care of you.”
Nephew strums the toy guitar and sings a song he composed titled, “I Love Our People,” with Tlayo in their living room. Nephew recently returned from Ireland where he supported activists in composing their own protest music. Tlayo shares his father’s musical talent and sings his father’s protest songs throughout the house. “We’re going to survive, but we don’t know how,” Nephew sang.
Garcia changes Tlayo’s diaper in her living room. The messaging on the walls demonstrates Garcia’s passion for social justice, particularly for indigenous people. “We’re living in a time where we need to live differently. One of my goals is to advocate for regenerative practices and to support species restoration like the tribes who lived here before us,” said Garcia.
Carrying Tlayo on her back, Garcia fills his sippy cup with water in the community kitchen at the Sister Moon and Stars House before taking him outside to play in the garden. Other social justice activists share this space for their work. Travis Gibrael, bottom right, conducts ecosocial work on his laptop, while Robin Bean Crane, top right, creates artwork to support the Palestinians.
Garcia cuts a nopal cactus pad from the garden at Canticle Farm to prepare a meal for her family. Nopal is a common ingredient in Mexican dishes, and harvesting this plant is one example of how the residents participate in urban farming. “The nopal cactus has to be harvested at the right time, or it gets too dried and useless,” Garcia said.
Nephew holds Tlayo as he descends the staircase of their home. Nephew and Garcia share the home with five other social activists from across the country at Canticle Farm. Robin Bean Crane, bottom left, is a Canticle Farm resident whose focus is redistributing generational wealth and creating paper crafts from the mallow plants found in the garden to support the Palestinians.
Garcia gestures her frustration regarding a $300 million lawsuit facing Greenpeace, Inc. from Energy Transfer, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, during a conference call on her front porch with peer board members. Greenpeace is a global network of independent campaigning organizations committed to addressing the climate crisis, safeguarding the planet for future generations, advancing racial justice and building an economy that places people above profits. In 2019, Garcia earned the national “Emerging Leader Award” from GreenLatinos, and in 2020, she was named the “Young Champion of the Earth for North America,” the highest honor given to young people under 30 from the United Nations.
Members of the Early Start Infant Team from the Oakland Public School District, from right, Kelsie Niemetz, Katherine Givler, and Olivia Michaelson, conduct a 6-month progress review meeting with Nephew and Garcia regarding Tlayo’s speech progress. Tlayo was born with microtia, a condition in which his right outer ear is underdeveloped. According to the Cleveland Clinic, children with this condition often have some hearing loss in the affected ear, making it more difficult for them to learn to speak. The Early Start Infant Team provides Nephew and Garcia with strategies to encourage Tlayo’s growth in speaking Spanish and English.
A scarf holding Garcia’s jewelry and a family photo are displayed on the wall in her bedroom. Garcia values her family’s culture and shares this heritage through her apparel.
Nephew, left, and his partner Garcia, right, meet with Canticle Farm founder Anne Symens-Bucher to conduct a Restorative Circle session. The couple meets with Symens-Bucher once a week to analyze and resolve conflicts that they are experiencing with each other. Nephew and Garcia use these sessions as a tool to strengthen their personal relationship, as well as a tool to incorporate peaceful justice in their social causes.
Garcia breastfeeds son Tlayo in her home at Canticle Farm. As a first-generation Mexican American, Garcia was raised in Oregon with her family who worked in agriculture. According to Garcia, “Tlayo” means “heart of the land,” a name given to him by his ceremonial god mother.
While on a stroll with her partner and son in the Fruitvale district in East Oakland, Garcia stops to hug a neighbor who also lives at Canticle Farm. The residents have created a community where people know and care for each other. They share food, housing and a passion for non-violent social justice that creates a sense of security for them.
Nephew and son Tlayo stop for a game of peek-a-boo in the mirror attached to the side of his friend’s RV in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, CA. Nephew noted, “The people who live in this RV are terrific people who are victims of the affordable housing crisis in this country.” Nephew commented that living at Canticle Farm allows his family to continue to do civil justice work without the stress of high housing costs.
Social justice activist Garcia reaches to caress her son Tlayo’s head as he sleeps at their home in Canticle Farm. Garcia commented that she tries to embrace these moments of motherhood as she attempts to balance her time traveling to support causes important to her and parenting. “I want the world to be a better place for Tlayo and future generations,” said Garcia. “I want Tlayo to understand the importance of taking care of Mother Earth just as I take care of him.”