Tiaya Hubbard
Instructor’s Name
EN102-???
Due Date
Oppression and Diet
Duster, Michelle, et al. “Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls” (2018). Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Book and Media Gallery. 65. https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/sociologyandanthropology-books/65
Former first lady, Michelle Obama, has left a positive impact on children, especially Black children. One of her main focuses when coming into office was to lower the rate of obesity in children. Obesity is an urgent health issue for many Americans but is particularly problematic in Black kids. Fast food chains’ commercials showcase Black families eating a meal and bonding, yet, one hardly ever sees a white family doing it. Reason being is because marketers invite famous Black influencers to come and be in commercials to promote their meals and beverages, this leading to Black children wanting to be just like that Black influencers, and eventually getting their parents to buy. Mrs. Michelle Obama, being the first Black lady, showed that these fast food restaurants were manipulating children and put a stop to it. She knew there was a positive correlation between Black families and obesity; so, she stepped up and introduced programs to help children get active and eat right. Even though she included all children, she wanted to protect Black children.
I will most definitely be incorporating this into my paper because this was huge for the Black community. Mrs. Michelle Obama has such a powerful hold on the Black community considering she is the first Black lady. I planned on linking this article right after the first one because with the media, she was able to get her message across about Black childhood obesity.
Freeman, Andrea. “Fast Food: Oppression through Poor Nutrition.” California Law Review, vol. 95, no. 6, 2007, pp. 2221–2260. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edshol&AN=edshol.hein.journals.calr95.73&site=eds-live&scope=site.
It is evident that for minority communities there is a lack of focus surrounding the term “nutrition.” It is not the fault of the communities themselves, but of the media. Fast food industries purposely target people of color through their own race-based advertisements and marketing. In Andrea Freeman’s article “Fast Food: Oppression through Poor Nutrition,” she covers how the government and the media are working hand-in-hand to limit these healthier choices and in return raising the cases of diseases like obesity for people of color.
In this article, she mentions the cultural significance of POC’s diets and where soul food originated. The greasy-soaked hushpuppies, buttermilk biscuits, fatback, dumplings, okra, and neckbones became the staple Black comfort food. Fast food companies saw this spike and tried to “copy” that greasy comfort food feeling. With this, came with pushing sixty-second commercials trying to show happy POC communities enjoying the sweet, savory foods.
I plan on using this essay because not only is it reliable (coming directly from UA library), but also because in this article, she breaks down everything from how fast food is designed to food oppression. This is very relevant to my topic because it talks about the media chasing the Black dollar, not only that, but it also talks about the background behind each subdivision.
Garth, Hanna and Ashanté M. Reese. Black Food Matters : Racial Justice in the Wake of Food Justice. Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2020. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=2654508&site=eds-live&scope=site.
In this book, it contains many mini essays. The essay that I want to focus on is called “Nurturing the Revolution: The Black Panther Party and the Early Seeds of the Food Justice Movement.” The essay talks about how the Black Panther Party was not only fighting for racial injustice, but also for simple freedoms for Black communities. They developed “survival programs” that help assist these communities in the face of racism, state-sanctioned violence, poverty, and starvation. Even though there has been national support to help aid the hungry, there has not been help directed to these Black communities that were needing it the most.
I will most definitely use this essay, especially this one line in the essay that really stuck out to me. I want to be able to provide background information on why the Black community has reached the levels that they have. This community put all of their faith in a government that kills and poisons them.
James, Peter et al. “Do minority and poor neighborhoods have higher access to fast-food restaurants in the United States?.” Health & place, vol. 29 (2014): 10-7. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.04.011
In Peter James’s article, “Do minority and poor neighborhoods have higher access to fast-food restaurants in the United States?” he presents the question: are predominantly Black neighborhoods closer to fast-food restaurants than whites. With this question, he follows it up using a broad array of methods in a diverse range of settings. He did this by measuring by the average driving distance from each census block group (CBG) population-weighted centroid to the five closest top-ten fast-food chains and CBG percent black and percent below poverty. Through various testing sites, he was able to conclude that there was a direct correlation between black neighborhoods and their being closest to fast food restaurants.
I am not entirely sure if I want to use this article because of how complex the reading and research is. It took me a while to find out what was even going on and how he displayed the information on charts. That was a con to this article. A pro was that it uses charts and graphs, and I really want to be able to use that information in my paper and presentation. This source is credible because I found it through the UA library, but also found it through Google Scholar before doing the official search for sources.
Kwate, Naa Oyo A. “Fried chicken and fresh apples: racial segregation as a fundamental cause of fast food density in black neighborhoods.” Health & place, vol. 14, 1 (2008): 32-44. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2007.04.001
Naa Oyo A. Kwate, the author, discusses how “race-based segregation” affects the fast food density in Black communities and cultures. As we all know segregation was anything but accidental. It was a planned structure that kept POC from thriving. In this article, she presents pathways in which racial segregation may have been an increase in fast food densities in Black communities.
I might use this for my paper because I think it can add more background information for my paper. I want to structure my paper by (1) introducing the topic (why are fast food chains preying on the Black community) and why it is a problem (complex disease = obesity), (2) get some type of background information (why are Black communities not exposed to more healthier foods in the first place; segregation), (3) how fast food restaurants commercials are purposely advertising Black family cookouts and trying to appeal to the Black culture.
Annotated Bibliography Conclusion
From research, I have actually found a lot of helpful information on my topic. It was actually more than I anticipated. I have learned that there is a direct correlation between Black communities and obesity. In the first article, the author broke down every single thing to the T. She defined what fast food is, to how it became so huge. She also explained how these big chains are manipulating the Black dollar. Restaurants want to assemble the same food that soul food gives to the Black community. In article two, the author explains how the Black community has an easier way to get to these restaurants. The restaurants are purposely placed where they are because they know that Black families will be able to get to it, even for people walking. This article took intense studying; however, it is proven that there is a connection between the communities and how close these restaurants are. The last article talks about the former first lady, Michelle Obama, and her impact on the Black community. She noticed this correlation and decided to stand up and fight for, not only Black children, but all children. Even though she is not in the White House anymore, she still makes a difference. She is a part of a children-based cooking show! These sources are very much different from each other, each one brings a new perspective to the table that I never knew existed. I feel strongly about my topic because as a Black woman that is overweight, I definitely know how and why that is. I was manipulated at such a young age. Another reason why I feel passionate about my topic is because I want to be a physical therapist, obesity can lead to weak muscles and bones. We need both muscles and bones to be able to move properly. It can also cause balance issues.
I still need to find more articles that include charts and graphs. I want to be able to prove my stance and back it up with facts. I need to figure out how I am going to lay out this paper properly so I can be able to get my message across clearly. I want to be able to educate other people about it that may not even know what is going on. I think I need to do more research so I can gather all the tools and information I need to make an informed essay.