Author Archives: jingjz2

Systematic Racism

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     Racism is a long-term product of history. The enslaved Africans have become symbolic of slavery’s roots. The Africans were sent to the western world and exploited. Under the domination of white people, they couldn’t fight against the injustice. This historical issue lasts till now that people of color often suffer low wages and exploitative conditions. But black people are not passive victims and they acted. African American communities provide crucial support for activists working for change in voting rights and fight against segregation. 

black cotton farming family

Black cotton farming family

     Racism is not an issue floating on the surface. The racism problem is imbedded in the systems. If we look at the food system, white farmers dominate as operator-owners, while farmworkers and food workers are overwhelmingly people of color. In a restaurant, it is common to see people of color working at the back kitchen and white people serving at the front desk. These people of color are hidden from people’s view, just like the systematic racism problem. At least six out of every 10 farmworkers is an undocumented immigrant (Patel, 2011). Under the pandemic, Migrant farmworkers are experiencing the hardship of low hour pay, inaccessible health care services, bad living conditions and fear of deportation. Racism is almost never mentioned in international programs for food aid and agricultural development. Undocumented farmworkers are excluded from Fair Labor Act of 1938 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1835.      

    Equity is difficult, but not impossible. To fight against racism, we have to understand that racism is not simply prejudice or individual acts, but an historical legacy that privileges one group of people over others. Recently, the Food Chain workers Alliance fought for higher wages and workin conditions. The participation of people of color in local food policy councils is changing the food system. There’s light in the path of ending the systematic racism. 

Hunger During COVID-19

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Response to Aaron Baker’s Food supply Chain Consequences of COVID-19

   The post from Aaron indicated the economic consequences of COVID-19. While the food supply decreases, we can expect an increase of the food price. Consumers are forced to pay the increased price, and this will lead to severer hunger. This lead to the question: how do we overcome this food crisis?

Field workers wear face masks and gloves while harvesting the first crop of organic cabbage.

    It’s important to invest in local food production (The Guardian). As some countries are restricting exportation of certain foods, supporting nutritious and affordable food production can be the key of sustainable food system. Food distribution is also substantial to guarantee the delivery of food to the vulnerable populations.

    To improve our food system, we need to change our policies. According to “the Real reasons for hunger”, the policies should “put livelihoods and food security first, rather than read and commerce”(Vandana Shiva). People are starving because of the policy structure that limits the access to resources and markets and dismantle the livelihoods of farmers. Trade liberalization is not the solution of the food crisis because the political democracy removes the basic rights of making decisions from people in this country. 

    The food chain should be regulated by the governments with improved policies. Under this pandemic, governments must work together to avert disruptions to foo supply chains. The coordination of global governments is needed because of the globalization.

                                            

Thoughts on hunger after contemplative practice

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The most inspiring contemplative practice topic for me is hunger. I’m now feeling hungry. My belly is feeling empty and is urging me to eat some food. The feeling of emptiness is compressing my stomach and makes me feel stressful. But when I close my eyes and try to control my inflation, the feeling of compression is minimized to be unimportant and becomes part of my body. 

    When we think about why we feel hungry, we notice that it’s a natural inner force that help us preserve ourselves. It is not necessarily a desire, but can be rather, a need of energy. We need energy as it is the basic factor of survival. If we cannot feel hungry, we cannot feel the importance of basic resources for humans, and we cannot experience the same feeling our ancestors or some people in the world are experiencing.

Farmers are dumping milk during pandemic.

     As we look at the one week’s food of families around the world, we realize the big gaps between individuals and consider whether we really need that much food or not. A Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp spends $1.23 on their food weekly while a Melander family of Bargteheide spends $500.07 (Menzel, 2008). Why does this happen? Food shortages and climate change comes up into our mind. The droughts and flood destroy harvests and lead to regional lack of food. But when we look at our refrigerator and bins, there might be plenty of food inside. Why can’t we allocate the food fairly? Power disparities, originated from human beings’ greedy nature, lead to the economical imbalance. Nowadays, people not only eat because of hunger, but also because of stress and boredom. Even if we have already fulfill our basic needs, we never stop. The overflow of desire of some people cut the resource available for other people and lead to the economic inequality and hunger.

Reference

Peter Menzel’s and Faith D`Aluisio. Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. Tricycle Press, 2008.

Leighton Schneider. Dairy farmers dumping milk amid COVID-19: Pandemic’s impact on the dairy industry. ABC news, 2020. 

Undocumented farmworkers are left at high risk for COVID-19

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The migrant farmworkers are at high risk of coronavirus outbreak and are unprotected. In the US, 47 to 70 percent of total farmworkers are undocumented. Many undocumented farmworkers are facing the problem of unsanitary and crowded labor camps and transportation. They are not offered with additional training or instructions for disinfection or social distancing by their employers. Moreover, there is no federal guidelines that tell farmers what to do if they don’t have quarantine space for sick workers or where accessible and affordable health care services are. 

     The migrant farmworkers are not treated as essential workers they are by the federal government before this global pandemic. Undocumented farmworkers are excluded from Fair Labor Act of 1938 and the National Labor Relations Act of 1835. Although state level laws have provided more protections for farmworkers, there is not enough guarantee of farmworkers rights under federal laws. Migrant farmworkers are experiencing the hardship of low hour pay, inaccessible health care services, bad living conditions and fear of deportation.       

     As the workers who put food in the markets and an indispensable role of the supply chain in the food system, farmworkers should be protected. I hope the COVID-19 outbreak can let the federal government acknowledge that farmworkers are critical to the U.S. economy and consider legislation to give the rights and protection they deserve. Under the pandemic, the farmworkers need to be provided with protection gears and hygiene products. They also need enough housing for quarantine, affordable testing of coronavirus and medical care services. If the backbone of our agricultural industry becomes affected, there will be shortages and interruptions in our food supply. If farmworkers are sick, who is going to harvest America’s food and what will happen to our food supply?

(Sources of Articles)

Liza Gross, Esther Honig. 2020. Migrant farmworkers feed America, they’re at high risk for a coronavirus outbreak. https://thefern.org/2020/03/migrant-farmworkers-feed-america-and-theyre-at-high-risk-for-a-coronavirus-outbreak/

Danny Hajek. 2020. Farmworkers, seemed essential, don’t feel protected from pandemic. 

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/31/824358228/farmworkers-deemed-essential-dont-feel-protected-from-pandemic

(Image)

Tim Padgett. Undocumented Migrants: If we’re “essential” workers during COVID-19, why detain us? https://www.wlrn.org/post/undocumented-migrants-if-were-essential-workers-during-covid-19-why-detain-us#stream/0