El Rito, CO. From the comfort of our home, on the day after Thanksgiving, we are enjoying meals made with ingredients we grew on our land over the spring and summer. We enjoy our bounty, but with a restless mindfulness born of the fact that we cannot forget that hunger in the United States is a growing menace that threatens the health and well-being of millions of American families.
Now comes the annual "food security" report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the news is troubling indeed. The report, entitled Household Food Security in the United States, 2008, was prepared by Mark Nord, Margaret Andrews, and Steven Carlson as Volume 83 of the Economic Research Report Series and was released in November 2009. To obtain a copy of the report, click here.
Highlights of the report include data indicating that 14.6 percent of U.S. households, or about 17 million households, experienced "food insecurity" (hunger) at least some time during the year. This translates to roughly 40 million persons. The study also reports that close to 6 percent of American households experienced "very low food security—meaning that the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food."
According to the report, "Prevalence rates of food insecurity and very low food security were up from 11.1 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, in 2007, and were the highest recorded since 1995, when the first national food security survey was conducted." In other words, hunger has increased dramatically in the U.S. over the course of the previous eight year Bush II administration and especially ever since the current economic meltdown increased unemployment and underemployment.
Not only are more people going hungry, even the "typical food-secure household" is spending more of its monthly income on food. "Food secure" households are "typically spending 31 percent more on food than the typical food-insecure household of the same size and household composition."
One especially significant finding of the report is that food insecurity [sic] is basically an aspect of continued structured racism since the incidence of hunger is more likely to affect Latina/o and African American communities. It is also a form of structural violence against women since households led by single mothers suffer some of the highest rates of hunger and malnutrition. As the report states:
...The prevalence of food insecurity varied considerably among different types of households. Rates of food insecurity were substantially higher than the national average for households with incomes near or below the Federal poverty line, households with children headed by single women or single men, and Black and Hispanic households. Food insecurity was more common in large cities and rural areas than in suburban areas and other outlying areas around large cities.The study further reports that hunger affects nearly 27 percent of Hispanic [sic] households; this constitutes more than 1 in every 4 Hispanic households (Table 2 on page 10). The situation is even more desperate for Hispanic households with children: The food insecurity rate for this group is an astounding 32.1 percent or about 1 in every 3 households (Table 3 on page 12). This compares with 15.5 percent of White non-Hispanic households and 31.9 percent of Black non-Hispanic households.
The report also suggests that hunger among the "undocumented" immigrant population is even more widespread than these averages indicate. One reason is that undocumented households are not eligible to participate in "safety net" programs like food stamps and other social welfare services. While many low-income Latina/o families are hamstrung by higher rates of joblessness, they do generally have access to these federally-funded food and nutritional assistance programs. This is not the case with undocumented households.
It seems more than amazing and unbelievable that the "World's Bread Basket" is also a place where 1 of every 3 Latina/o children go hungry and face chronic malnutrition. One has to ask why the U.S. food system has failed to provide access to safe, nutritious, and culturally-resonant food for one-third of its youthful population. This is more than a call for righteous indignation, it is a call for action. It is perhaps also a grave signpost on the continuing crooked road toward the graveyard of American capitalism? Maybe that is the only corpse we ought to starve to death?
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