Looking at this book from the perspectives I have gained through going to school at Mary Washington I have learned to see things through different eyes. Ashante Reese was able to bring up something I had never thought about before coming here, which was the problem of “food deserts” in low-income areas. How the reason why this is such a big problem is due to the structural racism that is shown forth in these “deserts”. It is not just due to the structure that is put down, but also because of the capitalism that is rampant in our country and how “nothing should be given to those that don’t work hard for it”. This shows those in low-income areas that they aren’t as important as those in better-income areas because they haven’t worked themselves out of those areas. That “they don’t deserve the same amenities as everyone else”. I think that the system of capitalism that has our country in a chokehold should be changed in addition to the food insecurity problem. When things are able to change so that everyone is able to get equity when it comes to these problems the quality of life will be better. I’m over the moon that Reese was actually able to visit these communities that struggle with these food insecurities and was able to speak with the people to see what was going on in the community. It’s interesting just how much my opinions on food and where I get it from changed when reading this book. I know that being in a wealthier area growing up lead me to get the better end of supermarket food, but reading just how much the other end of the spectrum suffered was upsetting. The fact that Safeway doesn’t care about its consumers was truly upsetting.
Week 6
