Health and wellness class runs table on MLK’s beliefs on the right to eat

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST

By Francisco Omar Fernandez Rodriguez Arts & Features Editor The Food and Nutrition department and the Division of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement (DICE) hosted “The Right to Eat: Food Security, Service, and Dr. King’s Vision” on Feb. 18. Marianella Herrera de Franco, Nutrition & Health professor, ran the table along with students from her Wellness for Life class. She said it is one of the activities planned to highlight Martin Luther King Jr. this month. “We want to highlight the right to food - the importance of the right to food and health under the scope of the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King,” Herrera de Franco said. The plan was to have informal conversations with people passing through the McCarthy Center lobby about MLK’s beliefs on the right to eat, she said. She handed out sheets of paper with quotes from MLK and explanations on how he believed in the right to eat. Then, she asked contributors if they think modern-day society is still struggling to meet these needs. One sheet read that MLK rejected the idea that charity alone could solve food insecurity, and this leads to the notion that it is the government’s obligation to do so. The quote it focused on was “Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.” Herrera de Franco also handed out corn crackers as snacks. “In our daily life rush, you eat your breakfast, and you have these cookies, and then you eat them. You don’t even think about ‘Where is this food coming from?’” Herrera de Franco asked. The same applies to chicken, pork, vegetables, and more, she added. “The world has enough to feed everybody. Why do we still have 3 billion people experiencing hunger across the globe? That is not fair, and Dr. Martin Luther King would be very angry too,” Herrera de Franco said. One of her students, Wendy Rangel, a freshman pre-med major, said MLK always said food should be available for everyone. “Some people have access to so much, and some people have access to so little,” she said. The quality of the available food is also unequal, she added. Maggie Reardon, a junior food and nutrition major, said she agreed with Wendy’s point and that it has become an inequality problem. If someone doesn’t have access to food, it’s treated as if that’s just “too bad for you, when it should be a basic necessity, like Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for,” she said. Adam Manter, a junior health and wellness major, read a card stating MLK rejected the idea that hunger was inevitable and that hunger comes from inequality. He said he agreed with this, and the more time goes on, the more resources there are. He believes people are becoming more aware of this.