What We Can Do

As citizens of the communities we live in or even areas we know about, it is often our job to ensure government officials hear our voice and hear the issues within the community. It is important they understand what does and does not work within our community. Many times what we will see in communities of color in Atlanta is legislation being said it will be created to combat the issues that the community brings up. While initially our voices are seemed to be heard, said legislation or plans to rectify the issues at hand rarely take effect. Many times we will see those plans pushed to the end of the line or to the end of the list of things to fix in Atlanta as a whole. We see this in communities such as the Old Fourth Ward, 5 minutes from downtown Atlanta. Areas such as this are in stages of gentrification. One moment you will drive past the historic home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that is surrounded by shot gun homes and pieces of historic land that have yet to see renovation or up keep, the next you will see a brand new slew of markets and stores, also currently known as the Krog Street Market. Stories such as this one run rampant through many if not all surrounding communities of Atlanta.

Aside from proposing new legislation be introduced to further enforce government agencies such as the EPA to intervene and "provide for liability, compensation, cleanup, and emergency response for hazardous substances released into the environment and the cleanup of inactive hazardous waste disposal sites" (CERCLA 1980), or the USDA to provide better standards by which farmers grow food and sell it to grocery stores in communities such as this one, I believe an additional piece of legislation that would help aid in the issue of food deserts would be to require grocery stores to have a certain level and amount of healthy, affordable, food for communities to take advantage of. I realize that there are agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration that have taken the lead on requiring stores and restaurants meet a certain standard of what is sold to the general public, but it becomes difficult to see said standards being met when communities like the Old Fourth Ward are experiencing slow but constant gentrification of their neighborhoods.

I believe it is important for citizens to become involved with local organizations striving to fix the lack healthy options by providing these options through local farmers markets, local gardens and farms, and by training citizens in these communities to grow their own food and train them in what things are healthy and how to eat organic, non-GMO, non-toxic filled and, non-processed foods that do nothing but harm to our bodies. I believe this is just as important as requesting government officials, at all levels be involved in addressing this nationwide epidemic that seems to take a pattern of affecting communities of color. There is a lot to be done and to be honest, I do not know all the answers. I do not know the one perfect solution to address food deserts in my community and others like it. But I do know that our voices need to be heard, and can be heard through organized conversations and persistent contact to our local and national officials, requesting this issue be addressed, placing pressure on local, state, and federal officials to address the needs and problems in the communities they use everyday to further their companies, legislative agendas, and personal wants for many products born in our community. I think there is headway through initiatives such as the First Lady's "Let's Move" campaign and the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. In conjunction with local organizations and concerned citizens be directly and indirectly affected by this, I do believe this is an issue that can be solved on a nationwide level. I plan to do my part in every way to help address and end Food Deserts in my communities.