The Guilfordian
May 1,2015 1 5
WORLD & NATION
WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM/WORLDNATION
GUIUFORDIAN@GUILFORD.EDU
GSO most food-insecure city in the nation
BY SOMMER FANNEY
Staff Writer
In east Greensboro along Summit
Avenue, the Bessemer Center plaza
is empty. Nearly 20 years ago there
was a Winn-Dixie, but no businesses
have been open there since.
Because of this, the surrounding
community is in a food desert, an
area in which residents do not have
access to nutritious food.
This year, that will change. The
Renaissance Community Co-op
will open in the plaza to finally
allow the community access to real
food.
But there are other areas
desperately in need of aid close
to home as well. Despite the
RCC’s miraculous success story,
Greensboro now has the highest
rate of food insecurity of all U.S.
cities.
“Those of us, including Guilford
College students whoVe been
involved in working on issues of
hunger and homelessness for years
now, in some cases, decades, we
have seen this problem,” said James
Shields, the director of the Bonner
Center for Community Service &
Learning. “None of us are surprised
to see that we’re at the top of the
list.
“The thing that is
that the politicians and the people
on the city council were alarmed
about us being at the top of this
list. It seemed as if they were
only aware of the food insecurity
problem in Greensboro when they
saw that list.”
Many things combine to
exacerbate food insecurity in
Greensboro into a problem that is
not so easily solved.
First, there are the motives of
businesses. As counter intuitive as
it is, businesses make more money
when they set up shop down the
street from each other. If a Food
Lion were to move to the east
side of Greensboro where food
insecurity is prevalent, they will not
make the profit they are aiming for.
“Things are overpriced at Harris
Teeter,” said Shields. “They’re
bought by people who don’t care
that they’re overpriced.
“People living on the east side of
town are not going to pay x amount
of dollars for an organic head of
lettuce, and that’s part of what
some of these stores are aiming
to get you on when you buy from
them.”
Greensboro is also a victim of
urban sprawl, in which development
continually stretches to the city
limits. Setting limits on developing
is better for residents because it
concentrates resources closer to
them.
“In a nutshell, what this means is
that food insecurity and having to
travel far to get food, (or) nutritious
food, is part of urban sprawl,” said
Volunteer Training Coordinator
Andrew Young.
“So it’s not a surprise in an
urban sprawl city that we would
have problems with food deserts,
because it has to do with food
distribution.”
Instead, urban sprawl in
Greensboro is making it harder for
residents to get anywhere without a
car. It is increasing the area that is
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city government, diluting even more
of the resources available to citizens
that live in food deserts. All of these
factors intensify the causes of food
insecurity for those experiencing it.
Ben Evans, a junior and Bonner
scholar, reiterated what he has seen
in Greensboro’s impoverished areas
while working with the Bonner
program.
“My site, Ashton Woods, is in
the middle of a food desert and
is at least a mile and a half away
from the nearest grocery store,” said
Evans. “For someone, who doesn’t
have a car, it’s incredibly hard to
get to the grocery store. The bus
systems in Greensboro are not very
efficient and don’t take you where
you need to go.”
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Construction on the Greensboro Renaissance Community Co-op will begin this year. Food insecurity problems remain.
The Bonner Center and Guilford
have been aware of Greensboro’s
situation for decades.
Lesley Manuh, a senior who works
with the Bonner Center through a
program called the Hunger Fellows,
encourages students to volunteer
with the Bonner Center if they
want to learn about and help with
Greensboro’s food insecurity.
can volunteer at the
said Manuh. “The
“Anyone
Bonner sites,
kitchen is open to everyone, the
farmers market is open to everyone
to work, it’s new and we definitely
need more people. And if there’s
ever a big food drive, we need
people to help with that as well.”
For now, a professor at UNCG,
Marianne LeGreco, is facilitating
the organization of a food council.
Through bringing people
involved with food together on
many different levels, such as
providers, farmers, sellers, store
owners, buyers and consumers, a
major aim of the council will be to
create policy change that will enable
those experiencing food insecurity
access to food.
Xenophobic attacks in South Africa leave several dead
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Many foreign nationals have fled South Africa following a recent wave of anti-immigrant violence.
BY ZACHARY LINDSEY
Staff Writer
South Africa, often known as the
Rainbow Nation because of the country’s
multicultural diversity, is going through an
outbreak of xenophobic killing. Currently,
300 suspects have been arrested for anti
immigrant violence, leaving six dead,
according to Al Jazeera and other agencies.
Thousands of refugees from African states
like Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe
have sought to find temporary shelters away
from mobs, while many others have fled to
police stations in major cities.
“At least 112 people have been arrested
throughout the KwaZulu-Natal province for
various offenses related to the violence,” said
Faith Karma and Diana Magnay of CNN.
Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique
have postponed relations with South Africa.
According to The Guardian, nearly 400
Malawians arrived overnight in the city of
Blantyre where government ministers and
officials met them.
In addition, soldiers and police have
been sent to various troubled areas in South
Africa, including Johannesburg and Durban
to protect immigrants.
“I think it’s a good thing that the soldiers
have been deployed throughout South Africa
protecting immigrants, because soldiers
carry more importance in their job,” said
sophomore Ayellor Karbah. “(People) may
be intimidated and want to stop with the
xenophobic violence.”
There are around 2 million foreign
nationals who reside in South Africa,
which equals 4 percent of South Africa’s
population. Most of these individuals are
Africans and Asians who came to South
Africa after apartheid.
These are the worst xenophobic attacks
in South Africa since 2008, which left 62
people dead.
“There is a long way for South Africa to
grow,” said Professor of Political Science
George Guo. “You have to have a strong
government that’s less corrupted. In
addition, the government needs to provide
healthcare, improve living conditions, re
inforce education and provide opportunity
for people to work.”
Ethnic conflict has also played into the
recent violence.
“Foreigners must pack their bags and go
home,” said reigning Zulu King Goodwill
Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu publicly, shortly
before the violence broke out,” according to
The Guardian.
“Ethnic leaders such as King kaBhekuzulu
have a strong influence on the people,
which may have been the trigger to cause
violence,” said Guo.
The violence has caused a lot of tension
between African states. Most recently,
Nigeria recalled its ambassador to South
Africa.
“My thoughts on ethnic cleansing of
minorities is (that it is) not showing the
good solidarity that Africans have,” said
Esther Idassi, a Tanzanian and founder
of Elimu Empowerment Services to The
Guilfordian. “If they’re directing their anger
towards the apartheid that happened from
1948 to 1994, it should be them reacting to
the people who put them in that situation
and not harming immigrants.”