Black food geographies

Reading this book shows that food desserts and insecurities is only scratching the surface because what Reese shared and experienced in Deanwood in DC shows that under a capitalist society people of color predominantly black neighborhoods will always face insecurity and “otherness” because the root cause of capitalism is racism. It’s designed to keep predominantly black neighborhoods from being able to eat “good” and “healthy” food like in other neighborhoods, like when she interviewed long time residents they all collectively said that the chain grocery store (safeway) had high prices and suffers from shrinkflation. So the residents took it upon themselves to open their own stores, that not only serves as a place where people can get food but it also serves as a miniature “community center” because everyone always spends time there. Another issue that Reese and even the residents bring up is that the politicians aren’t really doing the “deep” work to really help people in struggling communities see the “right” foods but instead only implementing healthy eating habits and resources in communities that don’t really need it and are already well off. Resse towards the end of the book brings up the idea that black liberation groups started creating the framework of a plan to create change in healthy eating for predominantly BIPOC communities but it’s the residents themselves that should be actually putting these plans into action because if politicians and waiting for another chain supermarket to come aren’t willing to help it’s up to the residents to change their situation, like creating their own grocery store or a volunteer garden. But, even these solutions are temporary because another major thing they need to outrun is gentrification. It’s like every solution that the residents come up with either get denied or are only temporary so people can be fed now instead of the long run, it’s like a double edged sword.