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{PHOTO BY HEATHER MULL}
Gardener and activist Ayanna Rauf poses at The Murtland Avenue Garden near Westinghouse High School, in Homewood.
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Social justice and environmental issues intersect at MOSAIC convergence {BY BILL O’DRISCOLL} AYANNA RAUF became an activist back in
1964, at age 16. Walking past a storefront on her way to Schenley High School one day, the Homewood girl spotted signs seeking volunteers for the Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee and the
Congress of Racial Equality. “I went into that building and my life has never been the same,” says Rauf. Her time with iconic civil-rights organizations — she says she was also a Midwest organizer for Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign — presaged Rauf’s work with the Black Panther Party, life on a Butler County farming commune and jobs with more mainstream social-service organizations. Today, the Perry South resident’s focus remains radically fundamental: rebuilding communities by restoring people’s ability to feed themselves properly. Rauf co-hosts New York City-based Ecosocialist Horizons’ fourth annual