Page 1

Katrina Robinson
UWRT 1102
Instructor: Fran Voltz
30 April 2016
In the Same Boat
Growing up in the hood; for me was just like any
other part of the city, fast, fun and exciting! I did not
know we were considered, by many, poor. I had the
things I wanted and needed. Although sometime I
had to wait. I was never hungry or homeless.
Nonetheless, we were considered poor. I remember
standing in the free cheese line (as we came to call

Page 2

it) many times. I also remember spending paper

food stamps at the corner store (embarrassing). We
had inadequate housing, healthcare and food, we
lived around people in the same boat as we were.
However, I do not remember any of my childhood
friends or other children in my neighborhood being
obese. Of course, I cannot speak for the entire
Bronx area, but I can speak for those around me.
Actually, I think I saw more kids, if anything, appear
to look like they did not have enough to eat. As a
child and early into my adulthood, I equated poverty
with being skinny and frail-looking. According to
the Institute for National Healing, Rich people were

Page 3

fat. Poor people were thin. (1) In todays society,

most of our children are living with food insecurities
and if you do not know better, you might miss the
fact that Americas poorest can be overweight given
you the assumption that I had as a child, how can
you have food insecurities when you are fat?
Well, first thing first, let us define food
insecurities. The definition of food security
means access by all people at all times to enough
food for an active, healthy life, according to USDA
Economic Research Service. The definition of food
insecureAt times during the year, these

Page 4

households were uncertain of having, or unable to

acquire, enough food to meet the needs of all their
members because they had insufficient money or
other resources for food. Food-insecure households
include those with low food security and very low
food security. (2)
According to the following chart by USDA it breaks
down the areas of who and where food insecurities
were effected the most. Low-income households
were the ones affected by food insecurities the most.
As you can see on the chart households most
effective by food insecurities were single-parent
households and Low-income households. Imagine

Page 5

that, not knowing where and if you will have

something to eat. Although the following pie chart,
from a distance it appears to have only a small
portion of Americans living in food insecurities but
take a closer look and you can see that fifteen
percent to many when you are talking about
something that can be avoided.

Page 6

Here is another example of a breakdown of the food

insecurities that American children are facing. Once
again you can clearly see which households are
being affected by not enough food to eat on a daily
basis. These two charts were conducted by The
United States Department of Agricultural Economic
Research Service. (2) Next I wanted to find out if
fifteen percent of Americans in 2014 were living in
food insecurity how is 1 in 3 children living in
poverty living in hungry but becoming more obese?
Food Insecurity by Household
Characteristics

Page 7

The prevalence of food insecurity varied

considerably among household types. Rates of food
insecurity were higher than the national average
(14.0 percent) for the following groups:
All households with children (19.2 percent),
Households with children under age 6 (19.9
percent),
Households with children headed by a single
woman (35.3 percent),
Households with children headed by a single
man (21.7 percent),
Black, non-Hispanic households (26.1 percent),
Hispanic households (22.4 percent), and
Low-income households with incomes below
185 percent of the poverty threshold (33.7
percent; the Federal poverty line

Page 8

was $2 4,008 for a family of four in 2014).

How are Americas children obese if they are

living with food insecurities?
Over 20 percent of Americas children are living in
food insecurities and one in three are obese. Why?
Research show that this is because poverty stricken
neighborhoods with little finances but a lot of bills
usually have to make their dollar stretch as far as it
can go and sometime that is not even enough. In my

Page 9

sociology class we had to play this game called

Spent. We had to choose a career path that paid
minimum wage and had no health care benefits. In
the game we had to choose to either pay a bill or get
the car fix, pay car insurance or buy food for you
and your children (research show that most singleheaded household are lead by African American
women), another example of the game was your dog
needed medicine but water bill is due. In the game
you had to make everyday choice that could effect
what you and your family would be eating that night.
The game for many, is a reality. I can attest to this
because when my daughter was younger we had

Page 10

some of the same issues and well food, was an after

thought. I literally brought the cheapest food money
could buy. I made that dollar stre-e-th! So when
studies show that starving people can obese, I
believe. Because healthy good for you foods,
broccoli, carrots, bananas, grapes and cherries (to
name a few) are much more expensive than foods
filled with things you can not even pronounce except
sugar and carbohydrates. But when your light bill is
due the same day you un out of food something will
always slack. Take a look at the following picture.
This is what poverty looked like in the Great
Depression

Page 11

This is what poverty looks like today

Page 12

This is what poverty looked like in the Great

Depression

Page 13