Tania Caldwell
URB 200
December 02, 2021
Since the pandemic of Covid 19 started, one of the main concerns for many low-income families has been food. By the time the school closed for many months, it was more complicated for kids to have three meals a day than they had in school. In the article “Want to Fight Rising Food Insecurity?” Sara Bowen, Annie Hudson Moody interviewed 120 families whose members shared their experience with the lack of food before and during the pandemic. According to Bowen and Moody, “One out of every nine U.S. families was facing food insecurity before the COVID-10 crisis began; given steep the rise in unemployment rates, that number is sure to climb”. Food access in the United States is hard for low-income and poor families. In rural areas, transportation could be a problem for food shopping; many families do not have access to supermarkets close by. The lack of government support for enough food makes it hard for families to have proper meals every day in urban areas. In the case of undocumented immigrants, fear has been one of the main reasons they have food insecurity. For Immigrants, the fear of applying for food stamps or any food program support may lead to deportation. Food justice had not only been denied in some way to low-income families, but the government had also played a role in the distribution of social programs to support families with their food access. Bowen and Moody emphasize that although some families might receive food programs, sometimes it is not enough to feed their families, and as a result, they can run out of food. In the United States, families might have access to food programs, but it does not guarantee that they have access to enough food and fresh food.
In the conversation “The Radical Origins of Food Justice Movement,” Erica Hughes, a member of the Black Panther Party and activist, explains how during the 1970s, the Black Panther Party created funds to feed communities, something that the government denied to black and Latinos communities during this period. Ericka pointed out that by asking parents what they eat, the Black Panther Party created free food programs and distributed bags of food to low-income families. In the conversation, one of the speakers, Devita Davison, talked about her experience reading the book “The Philadelphia Negro” by Du Bois; in her perspective, history has not been disconnected from the present; people of color have been the most disadvantaged. In a wealthy nation such as the United States, families still faced hunger and a lack of government aid with having enough food in their homes.
It is impossible to think that in a wealthy nation like the United States, is many families do not have access to proper nutrition. Although there are a lot of institutions that might support families, the government needs to try to distribute enough food to families. Food programs such as SNAP or WIC might support families, but it could not be enough for low-income families, and not everybody is eligible for this program. There are a few solutions that could help families to have more access to proper food. A community garden could be a solution so that families can access fresh food in their communities. Another solution should be government funds to institutions for food distribution, as Ericka said, by getting close to communities, asking the families what they would like to see more in their refrigerator, and creating a program to teach communities how to cook their meals. Hunger could be reduced or eliminated in the United States. However, I think the distribution matters; the government needs to ensure that those funds are appropriately distributed to communities and put those funds to institutions with close contact with the people.
References
The Radical Origins of Free Breakfast and the Food Justice Movement
Sarah Bowen, Annie Hardson-Moody, and Sinikka Elliott. 2020.”Want to Fight Rising Food Insecurity? Listen to People Who’ve Been Hungry.” Civil Eats.
