[0:02]I forgot the bag. This is Tony Lawson. She lives in the Southeast part of Washington DC, a predominantly poor neighborhood. I got the bag. Your bag? Yeah, the shopping. You want to go grab it? Yeah, cuz um, I don't have any money to buy bags. Okay. If like Tony, you live in a lower income community, have no access to a vehicle and live more than a half a mile away from the grocery store, you live in a food desert. Trying not to miss the bus.
[0:31]Tony retired from a career in the insurance industry 10 years ago and receives food stamps on the 6th of every month. I don't think this was an accident, you know, not to build grocery stores in this area because of the people here. You know, it's not just about black people, it's about poor people.
[0:54]A4. Tony is one of more than 23 and a half million Americans who live in a neighborhood which the U.S.A calls a food desert. That means they have limited access to healthy, fresh and affordable food. For Tony getting groceries requires traveling two miles with the help of two buses. It takes 40 minutes each way. It's a struggle to get there, especially when you're 71 and have to carry a week's worth of groceries back home without a car. In Washington, more than 80% of food deserts are located in the neighborhoods with the highest poverty rates and we're mostly black residents live. In wider and richer parts of town, there are plenty of big box grocery stores and independently owned supermarkets. But in Southeast DC, leading chains don't feel like there's enough money to be made in those poor neighborhoods. The higher rate of crime in Southeast is another deterent. So if you want to buy food in Southeast DC, you generally have to get fast food or go to a convenient store that leaves 150,000 people in the area in a food desert.
[1:56]Now we're calling it what it is food appetizer. It's something that's planned.
[2:06]This isn't this that's a desert is natural. It's manufactured by the planet. This is something that's planned.
[2:13]And it's obvious. Tony buys her food from multiple grocery stores searching for the best deals. Here she is at giant, her closest grocery store trying to find some staples on sale. There's not a lot of places in the area where I live that I can go and buy food. What I do is I I buy get my bulk when I get my stamps. I, you know, run all over the city. Even though the giant is here, I don't patronize the giant very often because it's expensive. So I'm I'm running all over the city.
[2:56]Tony is tired of traveling across the city hunting for food. She wants more healthy food options for everyone in the neighborhood, so she's training to be a community advocate, pressing the DC government to provide incentives that will attract more grocery stores to come here. Her goal is simple. I've been in 21 years and we have not had a full service supermarket for that entire time has always been a break. In my area, I want to see more places for people to shop. For NPR, I'm Sasha Ann Simons in Washington.
