To address this, movements of food sovereignty seek to bring power back to the people. In addition to economic capital, power is also control over your decisions and the choices you make. to more fairly allocate land and money and work toward repairing historical inequities based on race. Ultimately, strong policies are necessary to ensure that no neighborhood experiences food apartheid and to redistribute power to remove systems of oppression.Ī major component of power is economic capital-a reparations map maintained by Soul Fire Farm offers an easy way to start supporting efforts across the U.S. As an example of transformative policy change, the Navajo Nation passed a tax on unhealthy food to fund community health initiatives in 2014. HEAL Food Alliance offers a comprehensive policy platform to address food apartheid root causes and build a better food system. SÜPRMARKT, Mandela Grocery, and other nonprofits are creating affordable, organic grocery stores, and re-thinking the grocery store model through co-ops. ![]() Organizations like The Ron Finley Project, the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, and Whitelock Community Farm are strengthening regional food systems through urban and small-scale farming. Fortunately, there are many organizations already working on different aspects of addressing food apartheid, from building alternative food system models to providing ideas for policy reform. Getting at the root causes is not a small task-naming them is the first step, and there are many different routes to take from there. Using the term “apartheid” focuses our examination on the intersectional root causes that created low-income and low food access areas, and importantly, points us towards working for structural change to address these root causes. Apartheid is a system of institutional racial segregation and discrimination, and these areas are food apartheids because they too are created by racially discriminatory policies. Many groups are now using the term “food apartheid” to correctly highlight the how racist policies shaped these areas and led to limited access to healthy food. Language is important and using these terms prevents us from naming and addressing the root causes and making systemic change. Swamp, desert, mirage.all these sound like places to stay away from. ![]() People who work in public health have come up with another term for areas with easier access to fast food and junk food than to healthier food: “ food swamps.” Rather than simply building grocery stores, some of these communities need stable jobs and a livable wage to change their access to healthier food. And, as Karen Washington and research from Johns Hopkins University highlight, people who live in the places labeled “food deserts” most of the time do have food, but often the food they can afford is fast food or junk food. Sociologists have started using the term “ food mirage” to describe the phenomenon when there are places to buy food, but they are too expensive for the neighborhood. Sometimes grocery stores are unaffordable to their surrounding communities. Using that word runs the risk of preventing us from seeing all of those things.”īuilding more grocery stores won’t necessarily make things better. Number two, people in the ‘hood have never used that term.When we’re talking about these places, there is so much life and vibrancy and potential. She says, “Number one, people will tell you that they do have food. As farmer and activist Karen Washington points out, “food desert” is an outsider term, used by people who do not actually live in these areas. ![]() The term “food desert” obscures the presence of community and backyard gardens, farmer’s markets, food businesses, and other food sharing activities that exist in these areas. Using the word “desert” to imply a location’s inferiority as a desolate place writes off the people who live there, as well as the flora and fauna that are actually present in deserts. I thought it was going to be devoid of all life, but when I got there, I realized that the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, like most deserts, can be quite abundant, especially when they have the right resources. I fell into the trap of this misconception when I moved to Tucson. Common uses of the word describe the absence of life or activity, but most deserts are full of adapted plants and have sustained human and animal populations for centuries. First, the word “desert” typically conjures up dramatic images of vast arid landscapes with little to no vegetation and water.
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