"not just by guns and the police, by all sorts of structural violence"

Cleveland is home to one of many urban "food deserts" throughout America.  A group of local activists are taking positive steps to change things for the better:

"'People of colour are constantly under attack, and not just by guns and the police, by all sorts of structural violence like corruption, food deserts, educational and health inequalities,' said Amanda King, founder of Shooting without Bullets, an arts and social justice organization in Cleveland.

Rid-All’s ethos is community building through education and experience: over the past decade, hundreds of Clevelanders – mostly African American men – have completed its urban farming training programmes, including most recently a group of veterans with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Aided by an army of volunteer sustainability converts, the farm has become a community hub, hosting vegetarian food festivals, weddings, cooking classes, school visits and guided tours."

There's a lot to cheer for here, obviously.  And this was a relatively tough article for some of my students, since one of the great things about Korea is that you can find fresh, cheap produce being sold on sidewalk corners easily, or even in roving blue Bongo trucks.  (The stinky ones sell fresh seafood, even.)  The idea of a blighted neighborhood with no fresh produce options is simply unthinkable throughout the developed world, except America.

Nobody should have to struggle for access to reasonably affordable, fresh produce, especially children who are developing eating habits (good or bad) for life.