Donald Chumps food stamp box
Recently in the news we have been seeing that the shameful current administration would like to introduce a box of sustenance in place of some of the allowable spending dollars on food stamp cards for folks with lower incomes or who experience poverty.
Being that people of color, disabled, fat and queer folks are more likely to experience poverty because of oppressive white supremacist and colonialist societal structures and institutions change in policy would adversely impact the most vulnerable communities in our country.
The food in these boxes would be pre packaged and shelf stable foods only to avoid waste and perishable items going past their date. This would entirely limit folks to choose what they would like to eat. Choosing what you would like to eat is a serious issue for so many reasons. Allergies and food sensitivities are not respected, religious restrictions are not necessarily accounted for, culture and food traditions are not taken into account and the entire lack of choice is demeaning and eliminates one small aspect of autonomy and choice that these folks can have on the day to day.
My argument is not that these box foods would necessarily make people fat, however, these foods are arguably not as nutritious and may not offer all of the types of nutrients that different folks need. Additionally the attitudes around these boxes and the oppressive and limiting nature of this policy is just another aggression towards marginalized folks which does not improve living, and can impact body weight as well as physical health and mental health.