Karen Washington is an activist in the food justice movement, the de facto godmother of urban farming, and is responsible for introducing “food apartheid” into the public lexicon as a more accurate way to describe the occurrence commonly known as “food deserts”.
Food apartheid is her preferred term instead of food deserts because it is by design that people of color are denied access to nutritious affordable food, farmland, and business opportunities in the industry. Deserts occur naturally on the earth, so this gives the illusion that these people are just unlucky that they don’t have as much healthy food within walking distance as people in other locales do. Truth is, these areas are not randomly created, they’re the culmination of historical processes involving institutionalized racism and discrimination, as well as policies aimed at the poor.
More information about her can be found here:
Finally, the podcast includes the songs Moanin’ and You’re Not the Kind, by Sarah Vaughn.
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