In Sam Smouha’s article, “Food Activism and Structural Malnourishment,” the author talks about the importance of food and how many people in New York City, specifically Hunts Point, continue to famish from such vital essentials.

When we consider the issue of low-income neighborhoods, some might wonder: How is it that these districts are able to eat healthy? Sam’s article addresses this question because he broadcasts the message youth are trying to convey in the South Bronx by helping grow different fruits and vegetables so others in the region may eat better food with more convenience.

        “Kids from so-called ‘failing high schools’ helped harvest vegetables at the Morning Glory Garden on East 147 Street and Southern Boulevard in Mott Haven, one of those empty lots residents had brought to life. But in November, officials from the city’s Department of Housing and Preservation ordered the garden razed to put up buildings instead. Similarly, the Parks Department bulldozed Libertad Urban Farm, the garden I planted in the Fox Street playground in Longwood, where elders, children and displaced families got their hands dirty in the soil, creating beauty in spaces others long ago gave up on. And as on Fox Street, once the Morning Glory project started to gain community support, the gardeners were “evicted” from the lot. When they protested peacefully, officers from the 40th precinct arrested five people. When my efforts to organize farming projects on city park land were mowed down, Bronx Parks Commissioner Hector Aponte told me, “As long as I am commissioner, there will be no growing food on Parks Department land... The problem isn’t that police and government officials don’t want us to eat well or that they don’t us to have green grass for our children to play on. The problem is that they put the interest of others before the needs of communities. The city pits development against green space as if the two can’t -- and shouldn’t -- coexist.”

This is basically saying that the South Bronx continues to encounter obstacles when it concerns assembling urban farming in impoverished communities. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t find these revitalization projects as significant compared to other plans they have. Their reasoning for the most part seems to be self-centered and biased.

Another point Smouha makes in his article is:

        “Today in Hunts Point, we can see that many people continue to suffer because of the lack of a sustainable food supply. I believe that remedying this will likely not only require the continued support of programs like Corbill Hills Farms, as well as passionate community members, such as Tanya Fields, but will also need a major shift in the relationship between the food market and the neighborhood. At the time of this writing, many people are being further inconvenienced by the absence of their neighborhood supermarket. To be sure, a neighborhood of this size, which has the capacity to support at least three supermarkets, should not have to depend on a single grocery outlet. ”

This is surprising because Hunts Points is actually pretty big, compared to where I live on Burnside where there are approximately two or more supermarkets nearby. To be using a bodega frequently for groceries looks troublesome enough. Imagine how jammed and busy those stores would be. Supplying all your refrigerator's needs proves difficult in a setting such as this, especially when the availability of food is mostly bad for health.

We can look forward to seeing what the author writes next, because this obviously concerns me as a citizen who lives in the Bronx, and as someone who is currently involved in helping better shape the environment.