On this edition of Your Call, we’re discussing the growing hunger crisis in the US. Nearly 26 million people say they don’t have enough food to eat and food banks are struggling to keep up with demand. On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, cars began arriving at a Houston stadium food drive at 1am, long before the gates opened. Families of color are disproportionately hungry.
Advocates say the short term solutions are obvious. People need unemployment relief, a monthly stipend to help them make ends meet, and increased SNAP benefits. What will it take for Republicans to agree to a much needed stimulus plan? What systemic changes are needed?
Guests:
Raj Patel, filmmaker, research professor at the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin, author of Stuffed and Starved, and co-author of A History of the World In Seven Cheap Things
Andy Fisher, executive director of EcoFarm and author of Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance Between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups
Web Resources:
The Washington Post: A growing number of Americans are going hungry
National Geographic, Nina Strochlic: One in six Americans could go hungry in 2020 as pandemic persists
The Guardian, Nina Lakhani & Maanvi Singh: 'No end in sight': hunger surges in America amid a spiraling pandemic
Quartz: Covid-19 is a case study in how universal basic income can fix hunger