INDIANAPOLIS — Food deserts and the issues that come with them is a topic WRTV has covered many times, and a topic discussed even more at the Indianapolis City-County Council, which is now drafting proposal 337. It would establish an agency tasked with ending food deserts, which are predominantly home to black, brown and low-income neighborhoods.
But not every member of the council agrees that food deserts should be analyzed by race or any type of group. "What I want to point out from the document is the overall population that's affected by food deserts in Marion County," said Michael-Paul Hart, City-County Councillor for District 18.
As the City of Indianapolis studies the issue of food deserts and how to end them, Hart is asking that all mentions of race be removed from language of prop 337. "This document, I believe is putting preference on race, when this is something that we need to focus on as a city as a whole and that we make sure we solve this for everybody," Hart said during a recent Community Affairs Committee Meeting.
In a statement to WRTV, Hart points to a study from The Polis Center at IUPUI, which shows more than 200,000 people or 20% of the population of Indianapolis lives in a food desert. That's 18% of Indy's White residents, 21% of Hispanics and Latinos and 32% of Black residents.
Still, Hart says, "the government should not legislate based on groups of people, be that race, age, gender, or any other identifying quality." His motion to essentially put that into city policy was quickly struck down.
"I would like to move that we remove any mention of race within the proposal," Councillor La Keisha Jackson quickly responded says "I respectfully decline that sir."
In the 46218-zip code you'll find one of the city's hardest-hit food deserts, home to Eastern Star Church and its Senior Pastor Jeffery Johnson, who sees the situation first-hand. "We can't just say I don't believe it's happening and so we're not going to talk about it. No! There are studies to prove it happens," said Johnson.
He says identifying who food deserts are affecting is part of ending food deserts. His church opened its own grocery store after seeing data which backed up what he and his neighbors already knew. "That race is an issue and until we understand what the problem is, we'll never be able to solve the problem," said Johnson.
