Food Insecurity

Food insecurity is defined as a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food. This is an unfortunate but prevalent problem in our world and nation today. Data also shows that food insecurity happens in some communities more than others. Specifically, data shows that Black and Hispanic Americans are particularly disproportionately affected. Identifying these inequalities/inadequacies is the first step in attempting to correct/fix them. According to USDA data, 19.1% of Black households and 15.6% of Hispanic households experienced food insecurity in 2019. White Americans fell below the national average, with 7.9% experiencing food insecurity.These percentage statistics portray how common food inadequacies are among Americans and how race plays a role. It is difficult for many of us to imagine not having enough food in our stomachs or worrying about our next meal(s), but that is a sad reality facing Americans. Outside of race, food insecurities appear to be directly affected by level of education and ability to work. College graduates experienced food insecurity at a rate of just 5% last year. For those without a high school degree, the rate skyrocketed to 27%. Adults who have a disability — in particular adults who have a disability and are not in the work force — also experience more than two times the rate of food insecurity as adults who do not have a disability. It is interesting to see how a college degree (and lack thereof one) impact rates of food insecurity. I think it is safe to say that there is a direct link between financial situations and food insecurities based on these statistics, with obtaining a job affecting one’s ability to buy and consume food for themselves and their families. I would be interested to know how common food adequacies are in the state of New York and Schenectady. The graph below shows how food insecurity is affected by race.

Works Cited:
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/27/912486921/food-insecurity-in-the-u-s-by-the-numbers

Food Security

Food security is often something that we as a whole overlook.  Having access to daily meals and other foods is a luxury and a privilege, not a right.  We often think that since we live in such a developed country, with a higher income per capita than a majority of the world that this issue is not that big of a deal, except it is.  According to Feeding America, “In 2020, an estimated 1 in 8 Americans were food insecure, equating to over 38 million Americans, including almost 12 million children”.  This is a staggering number that clearly shows the extent of the effect that it has over our own country.  Another important thing to conceptualize is that there is no one specific group of people who is affected specifically by food insecurity as it “is in every community” according to Feeding America.  Below is a chart that visualizes food insecurity in America.  Food Security in US Households Report 2018 | Census COVID-19 Data Hub As you can clearly see a large portion of America is food secure, but still the slice of people who are not food secure is still incredibly large.

 

 

Works Cited:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcovid19.census.gov%2Fdocuments%2F6cf4af1ff4de4c04ad30001046685636&psig=AOvVaw1RrNohIGekR-rdrlrA23dp&ust=1651605413495000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjRxqFwoTCNDjwOTDwfcCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org/understand-food-insecurity/

 

The for Profit Prison System

The United States has the largest prison population in the world. Despite being a developed country with countless resources to help the process of rehabilitation, the United States has created a policy of incarcerating people for crimes that many people find to be a problem of our society and not individuals. The war on drugs has been a prime example of this. The US has created a system where non-violent drug offenders can be sentenced to prison for a long time, despite having problems with addiction or mental illness. The problem is that many of the prisons in the United States are private, and designed to make money. When there is such an incentive to have people locked up in order to make money, people who otherwise would not be put in prison, are incarcerated for low-level offenses. This has created a system where people that grow up in low income neighborhoods, that are surrounded by drugs a violence, are extremely susceptible to being put in prison, simply because of the situation that they were born into. We know that people of color are much more likely to be incarcerated for the exact same crimes committed by white people, and this has created and even greater divide in our country.  This for-profit prison system has been one of the main contributors to the racial divide that we have seen in our country.

 

What's the deal with private prisons? | Jacqui Ford Law | Oklahoma City

 

Works Cited:

https://fordlawokc.com/whats-the-deal-with-private-prisons/

Refugee Crisis

A major social justice concern is in regard to refugees. There are so many people displaced from their homes due to conflicts and issues within a country or between countries. The most recent refugee crisis is a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this conflict has displaced over 3.7 million Ukrainians. Another sad example of the refugee crisis is in Syria after the civil war in 2011. This is by far one of the largest refugee situations in the world with 6.8 million people being displaced. This number continues to rise today. This chart from the UN shows the number of refugees in 2021 in six categories: refugees under the UN mandate, asylum seekers, internationally displaced persons, displaced Venezuelans, stateless people, and other situations of concern.

 

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/25/after-a-month-of-war-ukrainian-refugee-crisis-ranks-among-the-worlds-worst-in-recent-history/ft_22-03-24_ukrainerefugees_1a/

https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/download/?url=3HMho5