Wolf bite

My race affects my education, which affects my living condition my living condition affects the food available to me, the food available to me affects my health, which determines my life expectancy, All in all, as a minority I have no chance......

With the current economic situation, many Brooklynites are slowly being forced out as the growing number of manhatanites are migrating to the outer boroughs. As I sit here in the office with A view of the Empire State Building it’s a reccurring thought on how this will affect me and someday my children. When you look at the facts, the chances of me affording to move back into my old neighborhood in Clinton Hills Brooklyn are unlikely. While it was an upcoming black community when I lived there, it has been transformed into a resting ground for the small dog carrying, organic munching, young Caucasian that now roam the streets. While I'm happy the neighborhood is starting to grow into a diverse community, I'm a little pissed off that in order for healthy food options, better education, and overall better living conditions, the rich had to move in.

I currently reside in Mariners Harbor, in Staten Island, where the closest supermarket is a Western Beef about 8 bus stops down. I have to travel pass the projects catch a bus and walk few blocks to buy "fresh" produce. The fruits are never organic, the meat fed things other than grass, and the aisles filled with fatty sugar-loaded snacks. In the time it takes for me to make a round trip, I can walk to the fried chicken spot 2 blocks away from my house and buy a twelve piece bucket with fries for half the price and eat it all. By sacrificing nutrition for convenience, I'm shorting my life expectancy. I read an article that clarified my day to day struggle. I started noticing things. In the bodega, where I order my sandwiches and buy my snacks that there were no healthy alternatives. After speaking to my mentor at my internship, I was informed that it was purposely done this way so that the products that sell the most are more accessible. And more times than not, these items are not the healthiest choices. When I walk into a store in neighborhoods where African-Americans are the minority, I find the opposite. It all suddenly became clear that due to my socio-economic status, I was at a severe disadvantage and my chances at moving up the ladder of success was crippled because of the food I eat.

I started looking into test scores of students in neighborhoods that were abundant in organic, fair trade and fresh produce suppliers. I compared them to the test scores of the kids in Brownsville, where the super market, was in poor shape. The well-off kids beat them by a landslide. With the cost of living in Brooklyn slowly climbing, it won’t be long until the lower class are slowly pushed out making distance to healthy foods available further and further away with each passing year.
Although this is thoroughly depressing i refuse to let it become a hurdle. Ive slowly been educatiin my freinds and family on the benifits of organic food. And although we have to travel a little extra to get better ingedients it will pay off in the end.