The Healthy Way

Hello , I'm very glad to be back and typing becuase I have finally found the time to jot down what has been occuring in my hometown,
Fast food still creeping in our street corners, liquor stores are still in business with every deadly item possible being sold. That still doesn't stop the People of Oakland from speaking out loud, raising awarness because we know everything right is possible.

Earlier this evening I was amazed to see an awarness about fast food, a music video created by the teens of Oakland, called Are You Loving It. Speaks the truth about legalized drugs in the United States, flooding the streets of the poor and helpless. Prices very low and expiration dates not existing , these are the silent killers. Poor communites being hit the hardest by the corrupted fast food industry, not only being placed on the blocks of every street but also not having the access to organic fresh food that grocery stores offer. The amount of fast foods in the streets of oakland is threatening but what is even worse is hearing that more than a third of fast food workers not being able to afford food due to the minimume wage pay they make. The cons defeat the pros, yes these fast food resturant offer jobs but they also cause folks to resort to only eating fast food, and the majority of workers in the fast food industry are low income folks of color. I would imagine that those are the foods they bring back for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

An article on AlterNet.org spilled the truth when saying "A new study of Oakland workers shows exactly how low the wages are in the fast food industry. Restaurant Opportunites Center United conducted a survey of 500 restaurant workers from August 2013 to July 2014 and found that 36 percent did not make enough money to buy food for themselves and their families, while more than half said they were eating free meals at their jobs only because they couldn't afford to pay for their own food."  Many solutions are floating in the air but not being used, profit over people is the disease that attacks the nation. Money goes right back to the corporations that don't care about the people they are serving, it is up to the community to enforce what we need. I am happy to see teens speaking out about the truth and it doesn't stop there.

Not the End , Only the Beginning

As my English class is coming to an end,my blogging is only the beginning. I never realized how fun writing can be and also a great tool to help spread awareness. Throughout this semester I stressed the cause and effects of food deserts not only around the United States but also in local cities of  my hometown California.  It was an important topic to me because it hit very close to home. I have communicated with people that live off food stamps and have to resort to living in the streets in order to save money for food.

 
This blog post is going to continue to cover many social awareness topics because I want to inform everyone while I am being informed myself.I enjoy reading articles, and being able to discuss my opinion. I always have so many thoughts in my mind, and it feels good to let it all out on paper. I would love to receive requests of what social issues you would like me to discuss. I love blogging and hearing ideas from my fellow audience. It will make the experience even more exciting. For many years now I have managed to comment on minor issues through twitter but it never was the same as being able to blog about issues. You definitely have more than 140 characters when using blogger. Until the world becomes a better place my ideas and concerns will be valid and in use.

 
Not many people use social networks to the best advantage,well at least not a majority of the people.I see irrelevant issues always getting inside of the heads of folks, and being discussed as if it were a  life and death situation. The life of a celebrity should not be in our interest unless they are giving money to those in need, and sharing their wealth with their community.

I would love to share a name , like  Harris Rosen who has shared a lot of his wealth with his community in Orlando. Rosen has used the money he made from running top notch hotels to building Universities and providing anyone living  in that community with free education. College is at a high expense and due to the cost, folks drop out.  The opportunity that Rosen has made available to 90 percent African Americans and most living under poverty level is  life saving. Donna Wilcox, an observer, states “when people have the resources to go and succeed, there’s a ripple effect” (2013).

I emphasize education very much and believe it  is a positive alternative for many things. With education comes a fulfilled life , better jobs, and a growing economy. Many issues can be overthrown if education was a priority and an easy access for all citizens of the United States. Follow me in my future blogs as I raise awareness on many issues from food deserts to education.

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Opposites Attract But Not for the Best

Money and power come together like a volcano waiting to erupt. Some may say that money and power are two of the same things, but I believe otherwise and have plenty of reasons for why that is. You see, within this reality money is what carries power. Low income communities are invisible due to the lack of money. In low income communities people lack the money that would give them the power to fight for change.It always seems as though news travels faster when it is spread by a corporation or by a person with millions of cash.Why isn’t the  issues of mass amount of food deserts and poverty getting the right amount of media coverage as well as awareness coming there way? From food deserts being the issue other issues as well go unheard of within the United States public.

The horrifying truth that comes into play are  child tobacco workers in the US. This caught my attention and furthered my thought process as to why this job may be an option to young youth. Well one common reason is to avoid deportation but another is to make a minimum wage that can barely afford a minimum meal. Well, eating is no issue if you are working in such a place, stated Human Rights Watch when interviewing three quarters of the children who worked on tobacco farms. These children explained that they experienced “the sudden onset of serious symptoms---including nausea,vomiting,loss of appetite,headaches,dizziness,skin rashes,difficulty breathing, and irritation to their eyes and mouths--working in fields of tobacco plants and in barns with dried tobacco leaves and tobacco dust” (2014).

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The symptoms occurring to these poor children causes lack of appetite , but it doesn’t mean children aren’t still starving. Issues like starvation and child labor are criminal acts of government but once again they go unheard of because money rules power. I relate plenty social justice issues to my blogs because everything has a way of connecting when you want to point fingers as to who is the creator of these deadly but rarely spoken of issues.Minorities and low income individuals face a harsh life around the United States and everyone acts as if it doesn’t exist. If you don’t have money you don’t receive acknowledgement, you don’t receive awareness, and most importantly you don’t receive humanity.

I give gratitude to those that take the opportunity to give back what they can, and never stop giving when they know they have more than what they need.

Food Stamps Getting Taken Advantage or Not Enough Food Stamps Being Distributed

The number one question that is supposedly leading to all the food stamp cuts is are people taking advantage of this cause. What I keep telling myself and would like to also tell my audience is, if food stamps were not necessary then no one would use them; better yet take advantage of them. Why is there a blame being put on folks for taking advantage of food stamps?

First and foremost I don’t believe people are taking advantage of food stamps. If they are than the system should be set up to prioritise on who needs it more wholly and who can a little more capable of less food stamps.Food stamp distribution should never go extinct no matter what the issue may be. Hunger should never be an issue within a country filled with plenty of “dough”. It just is so ironic at how much money goes into an unrestricted spending for defense as stated by the Tax Policy Center.org. In 2014, the Federal Government has spent 25% more the budget on defense rather than welfare, with welfare only having 11% of the budget and includes housing,unemployment, social protection, and family and children

Every year there seems to be a cut on food stamps and it doesn’t make any sense because if it takes longer than a year for an economy to rise then why does it only take a year for it to fall. By falling I mean taking away food stamps and allowing hunger to be an option .According to Feeding America.org “SNAP benefits don’t last most participants the whole month 90% of SNAP benefits are redeemed by the third week of the month, and 58% of food bank clients currently receiving SNAP benefits turn to food banks for assistance at least 6 months out of the year” (2014).  That is half a year of not being able to provide a meal for yourself.  My confusion is how exactly are food stamps getting redeemed by close to a majority of the people while close to half of that is unable to receive food stamps. Although I as well believe that there are many reasons why someone may need to trade in food stamps for another item. I can pull out a claim that the horrible choices food stamps restrict you within automatically shouts a cry for help.

The number one question that is supposedly leading to all the food stamp cuts is are people taking advantage of this cause. What I keep telling myself and would like to also tell my audience is, if food stamps were not necessary then no one would use them better yet take advantage of them. Why is there a blame being put on folks for taking advantage of food stamps? The wedge of your nations hunger problem is gauged at over $167 billion per year. The solutions to this problem can be organizing federal nutrition programs that protect families from hunger and improve their health and educational outcome, these programs should be made critical in people and also in the investment of the community because it not only will be a short term solution but will also last long term.

Every year there seems to be a cut on food stamps and it doesn’t make any sense because if it takes longer than a year for an economy to rise then why does it only take a year for it to fall. By falling I mean taking away food stamps and allowing hunger to be an option . As stated by Feeding America.org “SNAP benefits don’t last most participants the whole month. 90% of SNAP benefits are redeemed by the third week of the month, and 58% of food bank clients currently receiving SNAP benefits turn to food banks for assistance at least 6 months out of the year” (2014).  That is half a year of not being able to provide a meal for yourself.  My confusion is how exactly are food stamps getting redeemed by close to a majority of the people while close to half of that is unable to receive food stamps. Although I as well believe that there are many reasons why someone may need to trade in food stamps for another item. I can pull out a claim that the horrible choices food stamps restrict you with horrible options which automatically shouts a cry for help.

Why do I keep finding issues that affect only low income communities?

 If fast food restaurants offered healthy alternatives at a low price,then food stamps would not be such a necessity for some families. In this country we are always complaining about loss of money due to cuts that affects the low income soon to be majority. We have solutions right in our face but instead we settle for the most damaging to humanity. I think the purpose for that is because profit over people has created a crud imbalance. Allison Linn from MSNBC News noted “The House of Representative passed a bill in mid-September that would eliminate about $39 billion from the SNAP budget over the 10 years, while the Senate has approved a bill that makes much smaller cuts to the program” (2013). Let me make it clear that the Senate did not only pass a light cut of “smaller cuts” because just recently, meaning this year Congress has made a cut of 8.5 billion food stamps. What previously was $36 less in food stamps benefits has now raised to $96 less in food stamp benefits. That is outrageously insane considering the fact it is more than half an increase.
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Families will have to choose the lesser of two whether to feed their child or live in their home,pay rent, and starve. That is called a sacrifice .No one wants to see their very own child starving, but it is fine if they just build them a tent outdoors and act as if they are camping. Does that paint a picture to anyone? It is the children that are getting affected at a high-rate with these cuts to food stamps. Debbie Weinstein, executive director of the national Coalition of Human Needs, tells Colorlines news article that“increased program efficiency and the ease of EBT cards has increased participation in SNAP over the past several years, which subsequently led to growing costs. The House cuts would take food out of mouths of poor people, and it’s likely children will be especially hit” (2013). Forbes notes that the distribution of SNAP goes 23.6% for non-disabled adults, 19.8% disabled non-elderly, 8% elderly, and a huge percent of 48.7 of children,which is almost half of a whole.  Placing a decrease on SNAP benefits will not only leave children in hunger but it will create a weak economy. The 47 million people receiving SNAP will only have more trouble getting back on their feet with the worry of hunger.Forbes also states “In a country with more food than anywhere else in the world, it is morally reprehensible to not help those who need it”(2013).

Food Delivery Options Gone Wrong

This just in, Amazon is now catering to the rich with grocery delivery. I say the rich because if I told my audience the price I’m sure you guys will agree. I will state anyway it is not the price of income that low income communities can afford, but what they would afford is Burger King that is as well in the delivery business. It is upsetting because when you hear the word food delivery you automatically think how convenient, especially for neighborhoods that are highly impacted by food deserts. Not having grocery stores in their nearest radius makes food delivery sound more efficient,although everything has its catch of course.

Amazon Fresh chargers $299 yearly plus the charge on how much groceries are being purchased, Burger King has a $10 dollar minimum charge. Which do you think low income families would settle for first. Within the life we live it seems so much easier to be unhealthy and unmotivated because we lack the resources that is ceaselessly being paid by taxpayers but aren’t seeing where that money is going. An article by Science Daily States “The USDA’s Economic Research Service estimates that 23.5 million people in the U.S live in food deserts in urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh,healthy,affordable food” (2013). Those 23.5 million people are taxpayers so the question is where are the grocery stores and nutritional options that you receive in return of paying your taxes. The meal that children consume having the greater effect are predictably cooked by strangers and odds-on they consist of highly processed foods that are produced anywhere in the world. A fast food restaurant may be called a restaurant but all the food they provide is taken out of frozen packaging and drowned in frying oil. It breaks my heart to see children having to suffer because  the government lacks with something called equal distribution. The only thing I see equally distributed in my neighborhood are the fast food restaurant at your nearest “plaza” in which should contain a grocery store of some sort but instead is a gas station--fast food joint.

I express the most anger in this blog,the issue of having over priced nutritional delivery options like Amazon Fresh and then a choice of cheap fast food delivery not only makes it an easier choice to pick the unhealthy option, but rather influences young children to believe the disturbing message pricing is more important than quality. Food should be cheap because it is casually abundant, that abundance is permanent and the resources are infinite. There can be a solution to this crisis.

How would everyone feel if fast food restaurants rather spent the millions of money they make daily from serving fatty,sugar filled,deathly meals on producing fresh veggies and fruits ?

The Death Toll in Low Income Communities

A family’s income affects how much money they have to provide for the basic needs of daily survival: housing, food, clothes, health care, and education. The lower the income the greater the challenge to access nutritious food, good housing, and education.Higher incomes allow access to better quality housing materials that reduce the risk of contact with lead, asbestos,mold, rodents, and dust. Looking at low income communities you see just from walking into the city limit that they have no access to anything nutritious and healthy to survive in, better yet to strive from. Income can influence personal and community health, while we usually think of a disease, injury, or chemical as causing a health problem, a family income can indirectly affect their health. Employment, more education , and higher incomes are closely linked to improved health.

 Low income communities have more corporations or business that sell fast food, alcohol, cigarettes. People living in these communities are restricted to little amount of resources and have a majority of  products that cause serious health problems. Thank you Obama for stressing that Obama Care gets passed.How useful is Obama care for the poor though, did you know that it is a requirement  to purchase health care  by a specific date or you will receive a penalty tax. I find that radical because we are talking about the poor here, poor means having no sort of income better yet for food that they can afford health care. They are placed in communities that  are screaming out death, and I say this with anger because that is what I see everyday in my sight.
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       I came across an article yesterday on Huffington Post called “Millions are Realizing they are too Poor for Obama Care” the first thing that stood out to me was the story of this man stated “Thanks to a Supreme Court ruling and staunch Republican resistance, Marc Alphonse, an unemployed 40-year-old Marine veteran who is essentially homeless, cannot get health insurance under Obama Care”(2014).This man has served for his country and he as well as other low income American citizens suffer from job loss, what makes his story different is the fact that he is disabled and isn’t able to get a decent job that can help him and his family survive. I find Obama Care to be misleading because I am aware that this new law is called Affordable Care Act  but I guess the affordability part doesn’t reach the poor. This law is mostly taking effect in Florida but that is not very far from California. The effect that it has in California is that any poor person living alone is not eligible for Medicaid. Homeless families are often times to homeless to stay together. Survival strategies  prevent families from living like one big happy family. This Obama Care act is effective on those type of families because the rule that goes along with the law is, an adult without a disability who isn’t living with their children, like the veteran Alphonse whom I’ve stated previously--doesn’t qualify for Medicaid,no matter how poor he or she is.

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Why Does Race Play a Role ?

In America, eating well seems to be wholly for the rich. Race is scarcely, very seldom directly addressed in terms of the food system, especially when you’re talking on a broad scale. The American Society has  the idea that low income communities are a bunch of overweight urban black and brown people who don’t care about their health,stuffing their faces full of McDonald’s. I believe the counterpart to that is the middle class or upper class communities that have grocery stores in the closest radius possible which makes up the two poles of the food system.To me it feels very inappropriate and dehumanizing to act like people eating crappy food in America are getting what they asked for. It systematically has been made easier for people to eat unhealthy food and so difficult to eat well.

Who has heard of the Republican war on food stamps ? It came to my attention recently when reading an article on Truthout.org  which stated that in the month of September 2013 , Republicans in the House passed a bill that would cut lurching $39 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps, over the next decade. A spokesperson of this article noted “Whether Republicans like it or not, access to enough food should be a right in this country, not just a privilege. If the free market fails to provide food for the people, then it’s the responsibility of the government to step in and provide it” (2013). It can’t be seen in any other vision because this has been reality for many years now.

 A lot of time  and energy  has been put into building a food system that issues and distributes to economies of scale and what we are investing which has made this world so technological and capable of turning out potato chips and creating the substitute of kale chips. They just are  not so efficient of making sure that high quality produce gets into all neighborhoods. As well as cutting down on the distributions of food stamps that just goes into another topic of wanting people of the poor communities to starve. Food stamps aren’t even all that great if you want to get technical, they are mainly accepted by liquor stores and places like 7-11. Those places don’t sell any sort of healthy option goods. An article for Colorlines notes “18 percent of of the U.S adults have received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance benefits in their lifetime,the majority of which as people of color. That total number becomes more illustrative when broken down in terms of race and gender.The Pew data show that nearly 40 percent of black women and 30 percent of Hispanic women have used food stamps at some time in their lives,compared to nearly 20 percent of white women” (2013).   

The cut of food stamps can boost the poverty rate as well as make people go hungry. It’s sad to read this decision taking place in the congress because not only is it bad that poor communities aren’t getting the proper nutrition but now we have to worry that they have to suffer starvation.

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It has hit my hometown

One community I am familiar with that has a very high poverty rate is Oakland Ca, reaching a percentage of 41.30% in poverty level out of a population 30,077. I grew up in this community and I have over time seen  the poverty rate  only worsen. Communities have been distorted and  the majority of elders and children have been impacted by obesity and other major health risks I will further explain in the future. One 2012 study found that 42.3 percent of  k-12 students were overweight or obese. Jamalia, a mother, was interviewed in a Michael and Susan Dell Foundation blog and she stated “I knew I needed to give the kids fruits and vegetables, but it was hard to get them. Most of the grocery stores didn’t have fresh foods. My kids could find a gun where we  lived easier than they could find fresh vegetables” (2013). Low income communities are only getting worse as the high scale communities progress. A way to end this is by organizing a community garden , which is what West Oakland has been doing.

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While the poverty level in the Oakland Hills is nonexistent, the conditions just a couple miles away down the hill and all around other parts of Oakland have a sky scraping poverty rate. Shockingly, eating healthy is something only the well-off can do as well. The country’s food system is built to assemble exactly that outcome. A community in West Oakland has decided to take action into their own hands, living  without a grocery store let alone having access to healthy, fresh food has finally been reaching progression.

A People's Grocery has found it's way back to the city, being a Black Panthers Project in 1969 and now being organized by the Grassroots Foundation. From my understanding this has been the light that has finally shined over this part of Oakland. It is inspiring to hear Executive Director Nikki Henderson say, “ We collaborate with health and economic development organizations, gather residents for food celebrations, and work to raise the consciousness about structural racism and the role it has played and continues to play in creating and maintaining food deserts. We grow food,maintain urban gardens, and pursue effective systems change” (2013). This is a positive change to look up to, and take into planning for our own communities because from my understanding the issue is not going to be solved anytime soon by our capitalist system.

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Why Food Deserts ?

       Food deserts occur in poor communities that are extremely underfunded, and I happen to be from that sort of community. Luckily I had parents that worked very hard to keep me healthy and go out of their way to another city's grocery stores, to buy food that positively affect my health. Not everyone has that opportunity ,USDA’s Economic Research notes “23.5 million people live in food deserts. More than half of those people are low-income” (USDA 1).

      The lack of access to grocery stores contributes to a poor diet and can lead to higher levels of obesity and other diet related disease, such as diabetes and heart disease. Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, these communities may have no food access or are served only by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options. Being from a low income community myself I would feel guilty if I didn't make this knowledge available to people. I no longer live in the projects of Oakland California but my parents still reside there, and when I go for visits all I can see are liquor stores building up on every block and the nearest grocery store is in the next city.

       I believe that the number 1 death in these poor communities is heart disease. This issue is also something that attacks specifically minority groups of people. I need this blog to bring attention as well as create justice for these communities that have now felt voiceless , and not because they lost hope but because they are being fed foods that are affecting their bodies in all the wrong ways. When you eat unhealthy food it is possible for your mind to weaken and your cells began to die off because they aren’t getting the proper immunity that helps them fight off disease.This issue in equitable access to healthy food is a symptom of larger structural injustices such as racism, poverty, lack of community control and representation in local government,inequity in housing and health care, and ecological degradation.