It's no secret that in urban and poor communities across the country, fast food restaurants far outweigh produce stands and access to fresh foods. This phenomenon is not necessarily by coincidence. One of the most important lessons we learned from the Flint water crisis is that lower socioeconomic communities must be particularly vigilant when in safeguarding their natural resources and advocating for food justice, as they are most vulnerable to inequities in the food system.
Thanks to a growing food justice movement spurred in large part by First Lady Michelle Obama's urban farming campaign, nonprofit organizations like North Minneapolis' Appetite For Change (AFC) have organized to address and combat these food inequities. The organization recently teamed up with the Beats and Rhymes crew, the kid rappers who reached over 14 million YouTube hits with their ode to Hot Cheetos & Takis. The young rappers evolved their message for the AFC in an awareness campaign entitled, "Grow Food," that highlights the necessity of urban farming and addresses the effect of junk foods on the overall health of our communities.
With lines like, “See in my hood there ain’t really much to eat. Popeyes on the corner, McDonald’s right across the street. All this talk about guns and the drugs, pretty serious, but look at what they feeding ya’ll that’s what’s really killin us,” the Beats and Rhymes crew are dropping some serious bars for the culture.
