Ending food insecurity in Native communities means restoring land rights, handing back control
Ending food insecurity in Native communities means restoring land rights, handing back control
For Indigenous people in the U.S., food is considered a sacred gift. Healthy and bountiful produce is received when we care for the land.
Yet, with one in four Native Americans lacking reliable access to healthy foods and Indigenous peoples disproportionately affected by diet-related diseases, something clearly isn’t working as it should.
As an expert on Indigenous health and food insecurity among Native populations, I argue that the high rate of food insecurity and poor dietary health of Native Americans can be traced to the events that disrupted Indigenous people’s relationship with the land: colonization and the widespread theft of territory by white settlers. Any attempt to improve access to sufficient, nutritious foods today needs to focus on Indigenous food sovereignty and land justice — giving control and land back to Native communities to enable them to grow culturally appropriate, healthy produce and become self-sufficient.
