Last summer, the TMI Undergraduate Social Science Fellows, including Alexandria Porter, Gabriela Meschino and Margaux Reyl, investigated the struggle to access quality food in the United States. On this special episode of Justice Above All, the fellows share what their research revealed about the deep, systemic legacy of food apartheid in Black communities across the country.
Guests:
Dr. Wilma Mosley Clopton, Filmmaker
Amalea Smirniotopoulos, Legal Defense Fund
David Wheaton, Legal Defense Fund
Food Apartheid: a system of segregation that divides those with access to an abundance of nutritious food and those who have been denied that access due to systemic injustice.
The USDA estimates that about 19 million residents live in low-income, low-access areas and have trouble getting to a grocery store. In neighborhoods affected by food apartheid, or you may have heard called food deserts, people may have to walk a mile or more to get to the nearest supermarket, where healthy food options can be prohibitively expensive. Food justice groups have started calling this phenomenon food apartheid in recognition that the limited or lack of access to healthy food has been shaped by racist policies and discrimination, rather than a naturally occurring concept as the term desert suggests.
"We really need to look at the whole system and how to correct the system so that everybody can benefit"
Memphis, Tennessee is considered America’s “Hunger Capital” with 26 percent of people in the greater Memphis metropolitan area unable to afford or buy food for their family. In 2019, the Guardian investigated how residents are impacted by food apartheid.
Learn more about life expectancy and demographic breakdowns in Memphis, Tennessee by using CityHealth Dashboard. And use the Dashboard to explore data in your own city.
