299 - How Our Racist Food Policies Make Us Sick with Professor Andrea Freeman

Switch4Good

Access to healthy food should be a right, but in reality, it’s often a privilege due to systemic inequalities. What if the food on your plate were not just nourishment but also a reflection of deeper power dynamics and historical struggles?

Today’s guest, Andrea Freeman, is a trailblazer in food politics, exposing the disturbing ways food has been weaponized throughout American history. In her new book, Ruin Their Crops on the Ground, she uncovers how food policies—from the Trail of Tears to today’s school lunch programs—have been systematically used to marginalize and oppress, with echoes of this injustice still reverberating in our modern food systems.

As a professor at Southwestern Law, her expertise in Constitutional Law and Food Policy has led her to challenge the structures that keep nutritious food out of reach for vulnerable communities. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and NPR, and she is reshaping the conversation about race, law, and food justice. Join us as we discuss her latest book and explore how the fight for food justice is a fight for equality itself. You won’t want to miss this eye-opening discussion on the hidden politics behind what we eat.

“There is a long history of the United States using food as a tool of oppression and subordination as part of racial capitalism, as part of colonization and enslavement and then attempts to Americanize immigrants. That part of history had that very intentional racist tone. I mean, that's what it was, right? I mean, that was outwardly the motivation. When you talk about food oppression in the present, it is more baked into the system from that history. And I think instead of describing it as something intentional, we can think of it as something more like deliberate indifference or neglect.” - Andrea Freeman

What we discuss in this episode:

- How Professor Freeman became interested in advocating for food justice through legal work.

- The role of food in the United States' strategy to control and oppress Native American populations.

- The historical influence of corporate interests in shaping modern food policies.

- Why the fast food industry disproportionately targets BIPOC communities.

- Food inequality in the U.S. vs. the U.K.

- How schools are used as dumping grounds for surplus food commodities.

Resources:

- Book: Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School Lunch - https://www.amazon.com/Ruin-Their-Crops-Ground-Politics/dp/1250871042/

- Book: Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice - Kindle edition by Freeman, Andrea. Professional & Technical Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. - https://www.amazon.com/Skimmed-Breastfeeding-Injustice-Andrea-Freeman-ebook/dp/B07YR2FB9F?

- Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXmnBbUjsPs

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- EarthAnimal.com/Switch4Good 20% off code: Switch4Good - https://earthanimal.com/shop/?only=235174,243429

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