In the United States today 48.1 million Americans (13.5%, 52.6% of that number being Hispanic or Black ) live in food insecure households. “Food insecurity” is defined by the U.S Department of Agriculture as resource constraints leading to serious problems, such as families experiencing hunger, being unable to purchase a balanced diet, enough food for their children, or parents skipping meals so their children can eat. Food insecurity rates among Native Americans are twice the already high rate for the general U.S. population, and three times higher than food insecurity rates for white Americans.
The implications of hunger go beyond obesity and diabetes. Childhood food insecurity has been closely linked to higher incidences of infection, weakened immune systems, developmental issues, learning disabilities, difficulty in social interaction, anxiety, and inability to function in a classroom setting, creating increased boundaries for children of color from birth. Hunger affects all members of communities, often placing increased strains on mothers, children, the disabled and the elderly.
A legacy of colonialism and a stripping of native people and other people of color of their rights and access to culturally appropriate foods and practices has resulted in poverty, health problems, and systemic lack of access nationwide. Current discourses around food and distribution systems in the United states often fail to address the structural racism, history of exploitation, and power dynamics that exist inherently within these systems of the United States.
Food is more than a health issue, it is a community development, cultural and equity issue. Access to healthy affordable and culturally appropriate foods are key components of any functional and sustainable food system and any healthy functioning community overall. Access is essential in being able to maintain cultural practices, nourishing diets, and health. Recognizing this countries exploitative nature is necessary for moving towards reform and creating effective systems that provide for all. All people deserve the right to have access to the tools necessary to succeed and live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Though examining this countries history of racial and socioeconomic disparity can result in awkwardness if the fact that native people suffer 510% higher rates of alcoholism, 600% higher rates of tuberculosis, 189% higher rates of diabetes, and 62% higher rates of suicide isn’t a call to action for full system reform, I don’t know what is.