Children in Brooklyn march for food justice

Children in Central Brooklyn on Tuesday marched over the Brooklyn Bridge and rallied at City Hall Park in lower Manhattan for food justice with the non-profit group Seeds in the Middle.

Nancie Katz, of Seeds in the Middle, told Caribbean Life that the 4th Annual Children March for Food Justice was a “protest for food justice” because “food is a silent killer.”

She said students from elementary ages and up marched with adults and community leaders to call for equity in fresh food funding in New York City, the youngest marchers are in 4th grade.

“Did you know that most New Yorkers in food deserts are people of color, sentenced to premature death through preventable diseases like diabetes, heart disease, obesity at two to three times the rate of white neighbors?” Katz asked.

“Food is a silent killer. But these students and food justice advocates/community leaders supporting Seeds in the Middle do not accept NYC’s chronic, unjust, deadly lack of affordable, nearby fresh fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods who need it the most. That’s why,” she added.

Seeds in the Middle, named by fourth graders in Central Brooklyn, is calling for New York City funding to support its farm markets in food deserts and to expand to meet the demand.

Students rally to support Seeds in the Middle and fight for food inequity at City Hall Park. Photo by Melanie Vaxevanakis

“It is not justice when NYC neighborhoods in affluent areas have plenty of affordable fresh fruits and vegetables while the lowest-income neighborhoods with the highest rates of illnesses do not,” Katz said. “Time for change.”

She said students on Tuesday delivered letters and petitions to representatives of Mayor Adams and City Council members, calling for funding for fresh food for all in New York City.

Katz said the students are calling on Mayor Adams and the NYC Council to allocate funding in the FY24 budget to Seeds in the Middle “to create and expand community and school-run farm stands/cafes, edible gardens and healthy cooking run by local residents for local residents.”

She said Seeds in the Middle seeks with partners to erase food deserts by building a network of locally-run markets at schools and in communities.

“Let’s face it. NY government efforts to combat food insecurity and health disparities have largely failed, and it is not justice nor fair nor equitable that one side of NYC gets all the fresh fruits and vegetables they can ever desire affordably and nearby and the other side — mainly where people of color live — does not,” Katz said.

“This chronic, systemic lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in high-need neighborhoods is directly linked to the fact that Black and Brown people suffer from two or three times the rates of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer and premature death than the rates of residents of more affluent neighborhoods,” she added.

Katz said New York City has a poverty rate of almost twice the national average — New York City had a poverty rate of 23 percent in 2022, where the nation overall poverty rate was only 12 percent.

Pointing to NYC Mayor’s Office of Food Policy annual 2022 Food Metrics Annual Report, Katz said an estimated 1.2 million (14.6 percent) New York City residents were food insecure.

She said most are in neighborhoods of color in Brooklyn, Harlem and the Bronx.

“Thus, there are health disparities,” she said, adding that “every study shows that the key to fighting food insecurity is to invest local.

“The mayor’s Food Forward 10-year plan even calls for that. But that simply has not happened,” Katz continued. “So, New Yorkers are calling on city and state government to empower every citizen – not just the most affluent – to have the same access to healthy choices as anyone else.

“We are asking the NYC Council and Mayor Adams to fund programs run by local residents so they have the chance to change their neighborhoods from gray to green and create healthy places to live and learn,” she said. “It is time to invest in local solutions, empowering and enabling people in their own communities to run their own farm markets and create healthy places to live and learn.

“Why after investing millions and millions of dollars to end food insecurity and disproportionate rates of diabetes, heart disease, premature deaths among people of color, the city rates are only going up?” Katz asked. “We need new solutions, based on community. We are calling for the city to invest local with Seeds in the Middle.

“Let’s empower all to create community-run and school-run farm stands, edible gardens and healthy cooking classes and fresh cafes — in Brownsville, Flatbush, central Brooklyn, Crown Heights, Coney Island,… anywhere there is need,” she urged.

Katz said Seeds in the Middle inspires parents, educators, students, schools and their community to access all opportunities, beginning with improving their health, enhancing arts education and greening their environment.

“We are joyful, respectful, educational and engaging,” she said. “We nurture the whole child. We transform gray into green, destitution into inspiration.”

For more information, call Katz at 917-697-3745, email: info@seedsinthemiddle.org