William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice
Article Title
More Than Hungry: How Political Narratives Built & Maintain Hunger in the United States
Abstract
This Note aims to examine the role of the legal system in creating and maintaining hunger in the United States. Through this lens, the Note discusses the shift necessary to support specific legal interventions to end hunger. This Note begins by discussing how hunger was built in the United States through policies regarding land, housing, incarceration, and food, and the narratives that allowed these policies to flourish. These policies created hunger by creating pockets of poverty and disempowerment. Although many individuals and organizations donate their time, money, and energy to support local food banks, soup kitchens, and free school meal programs, these efforts alone are not enough to end hunger. As Andrew Fisher describes, despite the singular focus of anti-hunger initiatives today on food, food plays a minor role in the solution to hunger. Hunger is not a food issue, it is a food justice issue. That is because you cannot solve hunger without solving poverty.