An Incomplete Picture
For me, the effects of racial and social inequality hit a bit closer to home. I by no means feel regularly called out in ways that feel like attacks against my race. First, I guess it makes more sense, that I give a bit of background about myself. I am of mixed race. My mother is white, and my father is Latino. A bit more accurate would be to mention that on my father’s side I am a 4th generation immigrant from Mexico, which means my family has been here a long time. I benefit from the “whiteness” of my situation. I have lighter skin. I am culturally very American. These things are a benefit to me sometimes. I also am a poor single mom of Latina heritage. I may be the “white Mexican”, but I do not cease to be Mexican. I guess my point is that I live in a demographic of people who are negatively affected by the social stratification of our society.
In the writing regarding the anti-race work of community food, what struck me most was that the picture seemed incomplete. There was an important point missed by the readings of this week. They both failed to touch on the important resource of time. People living below the poverty level are more likely to need to work multiple jobs, or they may be more burdened by unpredictable scheduling that is commonly seen in the low wage job market. They may have to rely more on public transportation because of the high cost of gas and other vehicle related expenses. All of these things boil down to less time for other activities outside of work.
There is a lot of great work being done on the part of these organizations, so my critic is not meant to be entirely negative. Slocum writes of the efforts of the community food movement saying “The movement seeks to connect people to the land and to food through urban gardening, farmers’ markets, youth gardening, new immigrant farming projects, and community supported agriculture.” (Slocum, 2006, p. 329). These efforts are admirable. They take into account that communities that are stratified by race issues also have less access to good and healthy food. There is a lot of emphasis placed upon teaching people how to grow their own food, and getting farmers markets on board to accept SNAP benefits (food stamps). In Springfield, MA a Community food group was able to fund a shuttle to from a food desert community to a local grocery store to increase the community’s access to food (Slocum, 2006, p. 329). These issues still do not do much to touch on the economic issues surrounding food insecurity in low income communities. Farmers markets that accept SNAP benefits are great, but the items there are still more expensive.
This article touched upon the issue of economic insecurity with a quote from ODC member Hank Herrara who wrote ‘‘among all of the possible solutions . . . the one that continually eludes us is the solution based on individual and family self-sufficiency. That solution requires access to the means to earn adequate income through employment or business ownership and thus strategies to overcome systemic barriers to full participation in the economic life of the community, barriers that still exclude groups of people based on race and ethnicity’’ (Slocum, 2006, p. 333). This gets more to the point that I am trying to make. The efforts of community food organizations are unable to really get at this core issue. There is a greater issue in a bigger societal structure that cannot be solved by a single movement.
Over and over again community food organizations talk about the education of the people on how to grow their own food, how to make healthier food choices at the store, and how to better access farmers markets. These concepts negate the very important resource of time. While I agree that the most economical way for people to access fresh and healthy food is to grow their own. This can be done through private or shared gardens. For some of us this ideal sounds wonderful in theory. However, the question of time still remains. When are the people of these communities supposed to find time to tend a garden, to take the extra trip to the farmers market that’s 2 busses away rather than one, or even to find the time to cook the healthy meals that they know their family needs. For me a typical day includes waking up at 5am to get my daughter ready for school, and then off to work and school commitments, then the long bus ride home (because I live in West Eugene where housing is more affordable). By the time that I get home and make dinner for my kid it is 8pm, and she doesn’t get to bed until 10. Then I have homework. Now when do you suggest I start my Garden?
Works Cited
Slocum, R. (2006). Anti-Racism Practice and the Work of Community Food Organizarions. Antipode, 329.
I like the point it seems like you are making – that there is a much bigger, institutionalized issue at hand here that single movements can’t seem to make much of a difference with – almost like these smaller outreach movements are treating the symptoms rather than the root of the problem. It’s a classic western approach to problem solving. I think this is because the bigger issue (of institutionalized inequality) can be too daunting for some people to approach, or perhaps it is too institutionalized for some people to even recognize or acknowledge, yet at the same time people want to make the world a better place so we approach the smaller, more visible and manageable problems and then are limited by the complexity around it. It’s hard of course to come up with a solution to this issue. Perhaps one of the biggest actions to take is to expose the bigger problem of institutionalized inequality for what it is through dialogue and discussion – that it is not natural and does not have to be this way, that our society makes it this way. Of course it will take more than talking to change things, but given that I’m at a loss for what else to do at this point, awareness of the issue might be a good place to start.