WANDA Goes to Capitol Hill Rallying for Nutrition Security

Today WANDA rallied with faith and community leaders like Bread for the World to call on Congress to pass legislation that improves #nutritionsecurity in America on Capitol Hill as part of a 24-hour prayer vigil.

An excerpt from Tambra Raye Stevenson's speech:

"I come to you today as a mother, concerned citizen, and food freedom fighter on the frontline.

From my community of Anacostia in Washington, DC which is still fighting for statehood, we have more liquor stores than access to health 1 full grocery store for 70,000 people. In his memoir My Bondage, My Freedom published in 1855 Frederick Douglass spoke about hunger as a form of control and liquor flowing during holiday time on the plantation. In other words, food was weaponized which persists today.

Anacostia is in every city across this nation from the northeast side of Oklahoma City, to the south side of Boston, to south side of Dallas, delta of Mississippi, to bayous of Louisiana, the pueblos of New Mexico, to the blackbelt of Georgia where the life expectancies can be determined by the zip code over our genetic code. Nutrition is a social driver of health.

UN Declaration of Human Rights states every person deserves the right to food meaning it’s not a privilege but a necessity like air and water. Every city needs nutritious food is medicine. A hungry child can’t focus in class. A hungry mother can’t birth a healthy baby. A hungry worker can’t be productive. If you want a loyal voter base, feed the people and give them the tools to thrive.

This pandemic has revealed real champions of nutrition. We had mamas, aunties and nanas become the everyday day food sheroes turning their aprons into capes to feed their families. In the Black community, we know what it means to make a $1 out of 15 cents. But that's not sustainable.

What is sustainable is crafting strong legislation that invests in nutrition and the human potential to create local food economies through food entrepreneurship, making informed food citizens, and democratizing nutrition.

We need real investments and infrastructure in changing the culture of health and nutrition in our communities..."