African people find ourselves unable, even in the imperialist centers of Europe and the U.S., to have access to sufficient amounts of food for ourselves and our families, as the crisis of imperialism deepens and U.S. and European economies continue on a downward spiral.
Approximately 15.5 million Africans in the U.S. relied on “food stamps” to feed their families, in 2013. More than twice as many African households are food insecure than white households.
Counties with majority African populations are disproportionately represented among the top 10 percent of counties with the highest rates of food insecurity.
According to the USDA’s Household Food Security in the United States in 2012 report, “One in four (24.6 percent) [African] households are food insecure as compared with one in 10 (11.2 percent) of white households and one in seven (14.5 percent) households overall.
Nearly one in three [African] children (31.5 percent) live in food insecure households as compared one in six (16.9 percent) white children.”
According to feedingamerica.org, “While the 104 counties in 2011 with a majority [African] population represent only 3.3 percent of all U.S. counties, over 90 percent of majority [African] counties fall into the top 10 percent of counties with the highest rates of food insecurity.
“Five out of the 96 majority African counties with the highest rates of food insecurity also fall into the top 10 percent of counties with the highest food cost index; the average cost per meal in these counties is $3.07, as compared with the national average of $2.67.”
The U.S. government response? They are cutting $8 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program over the next 10 years. These cuts represent the equivalent of taking away 21 meals per month from a family of four.
Is it possible to prepare nutritious meals for a family with only $1.40 per person per meal? Well, that’s what the U.S. government believes is adequate. That is the average benefit amount in 2014.
Clearly African people cannot and must not rely on the U.S. government and its food stamp program to feed ourselves and our families.
We must rely on ourselves, on our neighbors, on our ability to engage in collective work to ensure our ability to feed ourselves and our families.
The All African People’s Development and Empowerment Project (AAPDEP) and other Uhuru Movement organizations are working in African communities throughout the U.S. and around the world to build our capacity to do just that.
AAPDEP members in Houston, Texas, have worked for the last four years to build our dynamic AAPDEP Fifth Ward Community Garden. We have harvested hundreds of pounds of okra, corn, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other staple vegetables that have fed our people healthy, nutritious food.
In Huntsville, Alabama, AAPDEP has built a thriving backyard garden collective where a dozen families work together to plant, maintain and harvest vegetables in gardens that have produced a variety of fruits, vegetables and berries.
In Sierra Leone, we have established multi-acre vegetable, cassava and ground nut farms that feed hundreds of our people there.
AAPDEP wants you to join us in our effort to build African community gardens everywhere African people are! Starting an AAPDEP Garden committee requires a minimum of only three people.
The Committee will determine what type of garden will be grown, the location, how labor will be divided, which crops will be grown and for what seasons.
AAPDEP will provide training along with technical and organizing assistance and will also help local committees develop fundraising strategies to support garden growth and development.
So if you are ready to help move your local community forward toward greater self-reliance and food security contact AAPDEP today and let us help you get started!
Contact AADPEP at:info@developmentforafrica.org P.O. Box 1701Huntsville, AL 35810
or phone 256-281-1344.
