底特律的企業(yè)家們吸取過去的教訓(xùn)與糧食不安全作斗爭
Fresh Corner Café sells loose fruits and fresh pre-packaged items like salads, sandwich wraps and fruit cups to corner stores, grocery stores and gas stations.
鮮角咖啡向街角商店、雜貨店和加油站出售散裝水果和新鮮的包裝食品,如沙拉、三明治卷和水果杯。
On a cold, sunny day in early February, Raphael Wright and his business partner, Sonya Greene, check out a vacant building in Detroit's Linwood neighborhood. Inside, wood panels are on the floor, and drywall is being placed over exposed brick. The only clue to the building's past is a sign out front, with the words "Liquor, Beepers, and Check Cashing."
二月初一個寒冷、晴朗的日子,拉斐爾·賴特和他的商業(yè)伙伴索尼婭·格林在底特律林伍德社區(qū)查看一棟閑置的建筑。屋內(nèi),地上鋪著木地板,裸露的磚塊上貼著干紙板。關(guān)于這棟建筑的過去唯一的線索是外面的一塊招牌,上面寫著“酒水、傳呼機、收銀處”。
Located on the west side of Detroit, the Linwood neighborhood remains underdeveloped, with few retail businesses, countless empty lots and many vacant buildings. But Wright and Greene see potential here. It's why they've chosen this neighborhood to open a bodega that sells healthy food. Like other neglected neighborhoods in urban areas, fresh fruits and vegetables aren't a basic necessity here — they're a luxury.
位于底特律西側(cè)的林伍德社區(qū)仍然不發(fā)達,幾乎沒有零售企業(yè),有數(shù)不清的空地和許多閑置的建筑。但賴特和格林看到了這里的潛力。這就是為什么他們選擇在這個社區(qū)開一家賣健康食品的雜貨店。像其他被忽視的城市社區(qū)一樣,新鮮的水果和蔬菜在這里基本上不是必需品而是奢侈品。
Wright says it's been that way since he was a kid.
賴特說,從他還是個孩子的時候就一直是這樣。
"I was raised in the '90s, and I always say that we were junk food babies," he explains.
“我是在90年代長大的,我總是說我們是吃垃圾食品(長大)的嬰兒,”他解釋道。
"I'm a victim of food insecurity," he says. "I'm 30 years old. I was diagnosed with diabetes at 19, so before I was old enough to have a drink, I was diabetic."
“我是食品不安全的受害者,”他說。“我30歲了。我19歲時被診斷出患有糖尿病,所以在我大到足夠可以喝酒之前,我就患上了糖尿病。”
Wright wants the bodega, tentatively named the Glendale Mini Mart, to be a pilot for a full-range grocery store he hopes to open in the future. The bodega will offer fresh produce, prepared foods and staple items. He says he hopes it will be part of a larger mixed-use development that will include a barber shop, a beauty salon and housing.
賴特希望這家暫時命名為“格蘭代爾迷你超市”的雜貨店成為他未來希望開設(shè)一家全系列雜貨店的試點。雜貨店將提供新鮮農(nóng)產(chǎn)品、熟食和主食。他說,他希望這是一個更大的多功能開發(fā)項目的一部分,該項目將包括理發(fā)店、美容院和住房。
"This is my opportunity to not only service a community, but to show proof of this new, fresh concept of how to introduce healthier food access in our communities," Wright says.
賴特說:“這不僅是我為社區(qū)服務(wù)的機會,也是證明如何在我們的社區(qū)中引入更健康食品這一新概念的證據(jù)。”
Wright and Greene are not the first to recognize the importance of Detroit's African American residents having access to fresh, reasonably priced food. That awareness began more than 50 years ago, following the rebellion that rocked the city.
賴特和格林并不是第一個認識到在底特律的非裔美國人能夠獲得新鮮、價格合理的食物的重要性的人。這種意識始于50多年前,當時的叛亂撼動了這座城市。
In late July 1967, one of the deadliest and most destructive riots in this country's history took place in the Virginia Park neighborhood of Detroit. What started as a confrontation between black residents and the Detroit Police Department lasted five days and resulted in the deaths of 43 people. More than 2,000 buildings were looted, burned or destroyed.
1967年7月下旬,美國歷史上最致命、最具破壞性的騷亂之一發(fā)生在底特律的弗吉尼亞公園附近。這場始于黑人居民和底特律警察局之間的沖突持續(xù)了5天,導(dǎo)致43人死亡。2000多座建筑物被洗劫、燒毀或摧毀。
The riots were the culmination of high levels of frustration, resentment and anger among African Americans due to unemployment, poverty, racial segregation, police brutality and lack of economic and education opportunities. However, there was something else not often discussed — food.
由于失業(yè)、貧困、種族隔離、警察暴力以及缺乏經(jīng)濟和教育機會,非洲裔美國人的挫折感、怨恨和憤怒達到了頂峰。然而,還有一種不常討論的東西——食物。
According to Alex Hill, adjunct professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, there was a "fairly expansive hunger issue in the community" around that time. Hill's research on the '67 Rebellion looks at food, power and race.
根據(jù)底特律韋恩州立大學(xué)的副教授亞歷克斯·希爾的說法,當時“社區(qū)中存在著相當普遍的饑餓問題”。希爾對67年叛亂的研究著眼于食物、權(quán)力和種族。
To get answers, nearly 400 suburban white women and inner-city black women were trained as undercover shoppers and sent to 300 grocery stores in the Detroit metro area. The main findings were that poor inner-city Detroiters were paying up to 20% more for lower-quality groceries. The survey also found that the quality of service, store condition, produce and meats in the city's chain and independent stores were not of average quality compared to upper- income and suburban stores.
為了得到答案,近400名住在郊區(qū)的白人女性和住在市中心的黑人女性被訓(xùn)練成臥底購物者,并被派往底特律市區(qū)的300家雜貨店。調(diào)查的主要結(jié)果是,底特律市中心的窮人要多花20%的錢來購買質(zhì)量較差的食品。調(diào)查還發(fā)現(xiàn),與高收入和郊區(qū)商店相比,城市連鎖店和獨立商店的服務(wù)質(zhì)量、商店條件、農(nóng)產(chǎn)品和肉類的質(zhì)量連中等水平都不如。
Hill says today, the choices available to black and white shoppers are still unequal. "In thinking about those disparities and access, those are still very much real. They may look different, but I'd say they're very much the same from 1967," he says.
希爾說,今天,黑人和白人消費者的選擇仍然是不平等的。“考慮到這些差異和獲取途徑,它們?nèi)匀环浅U鎸?。它們可能看起來不同,但我敢說,它們與1967年非常相似,”他說。