Food Apartheid vs. Food Deserts: Reframing the Conversation

How Do We Talk About Food Insecurity?

In some neighborhoods, it’s easier to buy a gun than an apple. Corner stores line the blocks, packed with chips, liquor, and cigarettes—but no fresh produce in sight. Meanwhile, families travel miles just to find a grocery store, carrying bags of food on long bus rides back home. When we imagine deserts, we typically envision vast, resilient ecosystems—harsh yet full of life. These places, rich in biodiversity, adapt continuously to sustain life despite scarcity (Mabhaudhi et al., 2019). Why then do we label urban neighborhoods as "food deserts," as if food scarcity in these areas is natural or inevitable? The term “food desert” disguises the real and intentional policies of disinvestment that lead to food insecurity. To truly address systemic inequalities, we must reframe the conversation and recognize this crisis for what it is: food apartheid.

• What Are Food Deserts?

  The term "food desert" suggests a naturally occurring phenomenon, removing accountability from policymakers who shape these conditions. It implies passivity—an unfortunate byproduct of geography—rather than deliberate neglect. In truth, food insecurity in urban neighborhoods is not a matter of chance, but the result of historical disinvestment and ongoing structural racism (Reese, 2019).

• Understanding Food Apartheid

  In contrast, the term "food apartheid" more accurately captures the deliberate racial and economic injustices that create disparities in food access. Coined by activist and friend of FBF, Karen Washington, this term forces us to confront how systemic racism, not random scarcity, shapes food environments. Food apartheid highlights intentional policies like redlining, economic exclusion, and discriminatory urban planning that prevent communities of color from accessing nutritious food (Penniman, 2018).

The Roots of Food Injustice: Redlining and Disinvestment

Historically, systemic racism has shaped these inequalities, especially through redlining policies from the 1930s. Redlining blocked investments and homeownership for Black and Brown neighborhoods, fueling generational poverty and economic disenfranchisement (Rothstein, 2017). In the 1940s, a Black family in West Oakland was denied a home loan, not because they couldn’t afford it, but because the government labeled their neighborhood “hazardous” due to the color of their skin (Mapping Inequality, n.d.). That same neighborhood, decades later, would lack a single full-service grocery store. Today, many areas once redlined are now labeled “food deserts,” showing a clear line from past discrimination to present food apartheid (Li & Yuan, 2022). For example, as of 2021, East Oakland, home to roughly 70% Black and Latinx residents, had fewer than five full-service grocery stores for more than 150,000 people, compared to wealthier and whiter areas of Oakland like Rockridge or Montclair, which each have multiple supermarkets within a short driving distance (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020; PolicyLink, 2021). Imagine a mother in East Oakland taking two buses just to reach a grocery store with fresh produce, while her neighborhood is surrounded by liquor stores and fast-food chains. This isn’t scarcity—it’s systemic design.

The consequences extend beyond food. Black and Brown communities disproportionately suffer from health issues like diabetes, obesity, and hypertension due to limited access to fresh, healthy foods (CDC, 2021). These illnesses reduce life expectancy, increase healthcare costs, and strain families already navigating economic hardship. At the same time, economic stagnation in these areas—marked by the absence of grocery businesses, limited job opportunities, and persistent disinvestment—deepens cycles of exclusion (Holt-Giménez & Wang, 2011). This matters because food access is directly tied to health, wealth, and survival: when entire neighborhoods are cut off from nutritious food and economic resources, inequality is reproduced across generations.

Ali Anderson, Co-ED and Founder of Feed Black Futures (Left) & Karen Washington, Rise and Root Farm (Center)

Community Farming as Resistance

Community farming emerges as a powerful, grassroots solution to food apartheid. For many Black and Indigenous communities, farming is more than food production—it’s a return to ancestral ways of living, healing, and resisting colonial systems. Initiatives like Soul Fire Farm in New York demonstrate how community-led agriculture can transform neighborhoods—enhancing food security, fostering autonomy, and reconnecting people with ancestral land practices (Penniman, 2018).

In California, farms like ANV West Oakland Farm Park, People’s Programs Farm, Earthseed Farm, Ujamaa Farmer Collective, Scott Family Farms, Seed to Skillet, Soul Flower Farm, and Agroecology Commons are reclaiming land and rebuilding food systems rooted in equity. West Oakland Farm Park offers free produce and gardening space to local residents, creating community-centered access to fresh food. People’s Programs Farm grows organic food for West Oakland neighbors living under food apartheid, pairing distribution with political education that links nourishment to liberation. Earthseed Farm, a Black-owned permaculture-based farm, centers Afro-Indigenous practices that restore both land and culture. Ujamaa Farmer Collective strengthens Black farmers by providing land access, equipment, and cooperative infrastructure. Scott Family Farms preserves Black farming traditions through its operations while also running educational programs for youth. Seed to Skillet emphasizes food literacy by teaching communities how to grow, cook, and share fresh foods. Soul Flower Farm weaves herbal medicine, ancestral farming practices, and education to cultivate both health and cultural survival. Agroecology Commons anchors land-based training programs that connect ecological farming with broader movements for social justice.

These farms not only grow culturally relevant crops but also strengthen local economies and create healing spaces for communities historically denied access to land.

Image source: City of Oakland; photo shows a map of West Oakland

Reclaiming Food Sovereignty

Beyond meeting immediate nutritional needs, community farms promote biodiversity, cultural survival, and ecological resilience. Unlike industrial agriculture, which prioritizes profit and monocropping, these farms center agroecological principles that value diversity, reciprocity, and care for both land and people (Altieri & Nicholls, 2017). For example, they grow culturally significant foods—such as collard greens, amaranth, or nopales—that industrial food systems often overlook, ensuring communities maintain ties to ancestral foodways. They also restore degraded soil, protect pollinator habitats, and reduce reliance on harmful chemical inputs. In doing so, community farms not only heal the land but also nurture the health of people who have historically been denied access to fresh produce.

Importantly, this work weaves environmental sustainability with social justice. By offering training programs, cooperative land ownership, and mutual aid, these farms build local power and resist cycles of displacement. As Kremen & Merenlender (2018) argue, agroecological models create resilience not just ecologically but socially, strengthening networks of solidarity and resistance to extractive economies.

Image source: Agroecology Commons

What You Can Do: A Call to Action

Imagine neighborhoods where gardens bloom in every vacant lot, where elders pass down seed knowledge, and where families don’t just survive—they thrive. This isn’t a dream. It’s already happening. We just need to grow it. To dismantle food apartheid, we must abandon misleading language like “food deserts” and adopt terms that reflect reality. Acknowledge the systemic roots of food insecurity—and support community-centered, justice-based solutions.

• Support local food justice organizations like People’s Programs, Urban Tilth, ANV West Oakland Farm Park or Agroecology Commons.

• Advocate for policies that fund community farms, protect land for Black and Brown communities, and reverse disinvestment.

• Reclaim the narrative—use “food apartheid” and challenge others to recognize how racism shapes food access.

• Grow food in your community—start a garden, join a farm, or share seeds.

• Contribute to mutual aid—support local funds like FBF’s Mutual Aid Fund.

Food apartheid is not just about hunger, it’s about power, land, and justice. Together, we can transform intentional neglect into purposeful investment and build resilient, equitable communities.

Let’s nourish our communities, reclaim our land, and plant the seeds of justice together.

• References

  Altieri, M. A., & Nicholls, C. I. (2017). Agroecology: Science and politics. Fernwood Publishing.

  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Nutrition, physical activity, and obesity: Data, trends and maps. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpao/data-trends-maps/index.html

  Holt-Giménez, E., & Wang, Y. (2011). Reform or transformation? The pivotal role of food justice in the US food movement. Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts, 5(1), 83-102.

  Kremen, C., & Merenlender, A. M. (2018). Landscapes that work for biodiversity and people. Science, 362(6412), 1-9.

  Li, M., & Yuan, F. (2022). Redlining and food access: Connecting historical discrimination to current inequality. Applied Geography, 140, Article 102621.

  Mabhaudhi, T., Chimonyo, V. G. P., Hlahla, S., Massawe, F., Mayes, S., Nhamo, L., & Modi, A. T. (2019). Prospects of orphan crops in climate change. Planta, 250(3), 695-708.

  Penniman, L. (2018). Farming while Black: Soul Fire Farm’s practical guide to liberation on the land. Chelsea Green Publishing.

  Reese, A. M. (2019). Black food geographies: Race, self-reliance, and food access in Washington, D.C. UNC Press.

  Rothstein, R. (2017). The color of law: A forgotten history of how our government segregated America. Liveright.

  White, M. M. (2018). Freedom farmers: Agricultural resistance and the Black freedom movement. UNC Press.

  Mapping Inequality. (n.d.). Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America. University of Richmond, Digital Scholarship Lab. Retrieved from https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=10/37.8/-122.3

  U.S. Census Bureau. (2020). QuickFacts: Oakland city, California. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/oaklandcitycalifornia