20
Nov 19

The Food Inequality Epidemic

 

There are many things that we take advantage of on a daily basis that seems inconsequential, but others do not have the same luxury. In today’s society we are bombarded with food commercials that entice us to go to the store and grab new products or visit a nearby restaurant and try new foods. Unfortunately, in some areas people are afforded the luxury to go buy any foods that they desire while others lack the same opportunities. With the growing trend to become more health conscious, food selection is an important aspect of health. But if some areas lack the opportunity to choose healthy foods, then there is a major injustice. A food desert, according to the USDA (2010), is a neighborhood that lacks choices of healthy and affordable food options. This is more common among small rural and low-income neighborhoods that lack transportation and retailers that supply healthy foods.  These food deserts can only further health concerns and contribute to disease and high obesity rates.

There has been some participatory action research done in order to understand that factors associated with food deserts and to give suggestions to bring about social action. As stated in our lecture, participatory research aims to learn about issues that are prevalent in the community and create a strategy to effectively change the issues. One research study found that food deserts occur more among black and Hispanic neighborhoods that have higher rates of poverty (Brooks, 2014). The researcher suggested that, in order to combat the lack of grocery stores and healthy food options in the area, the community should develop some initiatives for food programs like farmers markets or a grocery delivery service. They also suggested that policies be made in order to entice supermarkets to develop infrastructure within these food deserts. Public advocacy, social action, and local services development are all essential in order to initiate change (Gruman, Schneider, and Coutts, 2017). Another study conducted by the USDA (2012) found that food deserts correlated with areas with high poverty rates and areas with minimal public transportation, but also found that rural areas with increasing population were less likely to have food deserts. Although some rural neighborhoods can be considered food deserts, many food deserts exist in urban areas with high unemployment rates and racial minorities.

So how can we change food deserts so that they have more access to healthy foods and overall better quality of life? Many organizations are already utilizing their resources to educate and awareness about food deserts, while also using social outreach to encourage policy change. One organization called the Food Empowerment Project works to provide more sustainable and healthy food options to low-income neighborhoods, while also encouraging those in more affluent neighborhoods to make healthier and environmentally friendly choices. They often do surveys of the community to determine the needs of the community and then contact public officials on how to better assist the community. Another way community members have helped minimize the impact of food deserts, are mobile food trucks like Second Harvest Food Bank in California that help distribute healthy foods to those in need (Food Tank, 2016).

Food deserts can have a major impact on the quality of health and wellbeing in low-income and minority neighborhoods. Many of these neighborhoods suffer from high rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease because of the lack of healthy foods in their area. By conducting more participatory research in these areas, it can help increase awareness of these social issues and bring about social justice. Policy change and community involvement are just some of the ways change can be initiated in these areas, but it first starts with awareness.

References

Brooks, K. (2014, March 10). Research shows food deserts more abundant in minority neighborhoods. Retrieved from https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2014/spring/racial-food-deserts/.

Dutko, Paula, Ver Ploeg, Michelle, & Farrigan, Tracey (2012). Characteristics and Influential Factors of Food Deserts, ERR-140, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Food Empowerment Project. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://foodispower.org/.

Food Tank. (2016, November 27). Five Innovative Solutions From “Food Desert” Activists. Retrieved from https://foodtank.com/news/2013/05/five-innovative-solutions-from-food-desert-activists/.

Gruman J.A., Schneider, F.W., & Coutts, L.M. (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

United States Department of Agriculture. (2010). Access to Affordable, Nutritious Food Is Limited in “Food Deserts”. Retrieved from https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2010/march/access-to-affordable-nutritious-food-is-limited-in-food-deserts/.

 

 


03
Oct 19

The Squad of Capitol Hill

Congresswomen Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are the new congresswomen who are known as “the Squad” on Capitol Hill. They are the face of diversity, acceptance, and equality. Above all else, though, they are highly qualified, intelligent, strong minded, and ass-kicking politicians. That’s what they were elected to do. The squad has already started off with a big bang by setting new milestones in the history of Capitol Hill. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are the first two Muslim-Americans to serve in Congress,  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, and Ayanna Pressley is the first woman of color to be elected to the Boston City Council (Abramson, 2019; Relman & Ma, 2018; DeCosta-Klipa, 2018). In only a short period of time, people know their names and they listen to what they have to say. Despite their qualifications and devotion, they experience daily attacks, partly due to their politics, but mostly due to their ethnic backgrounds. Like never before, racism is loud and apparent in Capitol Hill. 

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota rose from a refugee camp to Capitol Hill and, ever since, has been one of the current president’s top targets (Abramson, 2019). As one of the first two Muslim-American congresswomen, it’s not easy for Ilhan to just focus on her work because on a daily basis she has to defend bigoted assumptions about her beliefs (Flanagan, 2019). Rashida Tlaib of Michigan experienced similar issues as Omar, as she, too, is a Muslim-American. Recently, both Omar and Tlaib were banned by Israel’s government to enter the country, a decision that was backed by President Trump (2019) as he tweeted “It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace” (Green, 2019; Trump, 2019). As Massachusetts first black woman in Congress, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts is no stranger to racism either. Like her other squad members, Pressley was a victim of many racist tweets . The youngest congresswoman ever elected, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, is probably the most targeted person by many politicians, including President Trump. For example, in September, Republicans ran a TV ad depicting picture of Ocasio-Cortez on fire (Schouten, 2019). Furthermore, the squad was also recently been told via twitter to go back to where they came from (Pengelly, 2019). As a result, the squad not only have to work harder than most on their policies but also on defending their beliefs, and assuring people that they are as much of an American as anyone else in the US. 

Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts (2012), state that today blatant racism no longer exists. However, today’s events seem to contradict Schneider et al.’s (2012) statement. Blatant racism is an obvious act of racism such as segregation and clear differential treatment due to their skin color, and as stated above the squad did experience a clear differential treatment compared to their peers (Schneider et al., 2012). What people don’t realize is that having diverse congressmen and congresswomen in Capitol Hill could be beneficial for us, the people, as besides their academic qualifications they also have a built-in functional diversity (Schneider et al., 2012). With the squad’s built-in functional diversity, their diverse background and experiences can help increase the quality of decision making in the Capitol Hill (Schneider et al., 2012). Diversity definitely comes with challenges, as Schneider et al. (2012) point out that in a diverse group there’s a decrease in communication and social interaction. However, if people focus on their similarity rather than their differences, they may not even experience decreases in these areas. Instead, they may be even more creative and innovative, and perhaps can finally drain the swamp? 

References

Abramson, A. (2019, July 18). How Ilhan Omar Rose From Refugee to Donald Trump’s Target. Retrieved October 3, 2019, from https://time.com/5628844/ilhan-omar-profile/.

DeCosta-Klipa, N. (2018, August 31). Everything you need to know about Ayanna Pressley. Retrieved October 3, 2019, from https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2018/08/31/ayanna-pressley-massachusetts-primary.

Flanagan, C. (2019, August 26). Ilhan Omar’s Opportunity. Retrieved October 3, 2019, from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/where-ilhan-omar-failed/596743/.

Green, E. (2019, August 15). Trump Has Enabled Israel’s Antidemocratic Tendencies at Every Turn. Retrieved October 3, 2019, from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/08/israel-bans-omar-tlaib/596167/.

Pengelly, M. (2019, July 15). ‘Go back home’: Trump aims racist attack at Ocasio-Cortez and other congresswomen. Retrieved October 3, 2019, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/14/trump-squad-tlaib-omar-pressley-ocasio-cortez.

Relman, E., & Ma, A. (2019, January 8). Meet Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the millennial, socialist political novice who’s now the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Retrieved October 3, 2019, from https://www.businessinsider.com/all-about-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-who-beat-crowley-in-ny-dem-primary-2018-6.

Schneider, F.W., Gruman J.A.,  & Coutts, L.M. (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. 

Schouten, F. (2019, September 14). Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams shocking ad that aired during Democratic debate. Retrieved October 3, 2019, from https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/13/politics/aoc-criticizes-attack-ad/index.html.

Trump, D. [@realDonalTrump]. (2019, August 15). It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1162000480681287683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1162000480681287683&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fpolitics%2Farchive%2F2019%2F08%2Fisrael-bans-omar-tlaib%2F596167%2F


22
Jun 14

Are the SATs a Disadvantage to Minorities?

The SATs have played a very important role in the college admissions process for many students who are hoping to continue their education past high school. The test’s objective is to standardize the admissions process for colleges (WVIA 2011). The SATs were taken by high school students for the first time in 1926 (WVIA 2011). However, as with many other aspects of life, things change. Society today is constantly advancing and creating new solutions as problems arise. Unfortunately, the SATs have created many problems over the last few years, more specifically problems involving disadvantaging minority students. Although there have been minor changes made, society has yet to fix the major issues caused by the problematic test.

Nearly two million students spend $2.5 billion dollars total on test preparation, tutoring, and the test itself each year (Hechinger, 2011). The pricey test inevitably puts minorities at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, the SATs are a big part of the college admissions process for many schools and many minority-grouped students do not have any other option but to take the test. Whites on average score higher on the test than minorities (Hechinger, 2011) Perhaps that’s why only 32% of minority students are enrolled in undergraduate programs (Hechinger, 2011).

Minority students may experience stereotype threat, thus fearing that they will confirm negative stereotypes that others may have towards one’s group (i.e. scoring low on the SATs) (Schneider et al., 2012). If one already has a poor academic self-concept (feeling like one has poor academic achievement), one may self-handicap to relieve the feeling of disappointment if he/she does indeed do poorly on the test. For instance, suppose a latina girl decides to go out with friends the night before taking the SATs. If she does poorly on the test, she may not feel as negatively. This is because she can easily excuse her failure by blaming her low score on her going out the night before instead of on poor academic ability (self-handicapping) (Schneider et al., 2012).

The difference in test scores between minority students and non-minority students are causing colleges to struggle to find ways to remain racially diverse (Hechinger, 2011). Luckily, some colleges are taking action to ensure their applicants a fairer chance to gain admission to their schools. In recent years, the SAT optional movement has become very popular. More and more schools are making the SAT voluntary instead of mandatory. In fact, more than 280 of the nation’s 2,600 four year colleges and universities do not require SAT scores (Christian Science Monitor, 2008).

The SATs have long been used in the college admissions process, but it is time to reconsider them. The standardized test clearly causes problems with its unfairness to minorities taking the test. Every student deserves a fair chance to be accepted to the college of their choice. The SATs are one of the major problems minority students face when applying to college. Taking the SAT optional approach is a good method, however, eliminating the test completely and offering alternative options to students could possibly be the best method in predicting college success.

References

Hechinger, J. (2011) SAT Coaching Found to Boost Scores – Barely. Business News & Financial News The Wall Street Journal Dow Jones and Company, Inc,

History of the SAT: (2011). A Timeline. WVIA. WGBH Educational Foundation

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1412976381

Shelve the S.A.T? Christian Science Monitor (2008): 1. The Christian Science Publishing Society

 


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