America’s year of hunger: how children and people of color suffered most
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Investigation of a year’s worth of data reveals the scale of America’s hunger and food insecurity crisis during a year of Covid-19
Graphics by Aliya Uteuova
in Houston and Edinburg, Texas
Wed 14 Apr 2021 06.00 EDT
Last modified on Wed 14 Apr 2021 12.32 EDT
Black families in the US have gone hungry at two to three times the rate of white families over the course of the pandemic, according to new analysis which suggests political squabbling over Covid aid exacerbated a crisis that left millions of children without enough to eat.
An investigation into food poverty by the Guardian and the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at Northwestern University found gaping racial inequalities in access to adequate nutrition that threatens the long-term prospects of a generation of Black and brown children.
The statistical analysis by economists at IPR is based on landmark research by the Census Bureau tracking in real time the impact of the pandemic on hunger, jobs, housing, mental health, finances and schooling.
Food insecurity, a more expansive hardship measure than hunger, has been at the highest level since annual records began in the mid-1990s, including after the Great Recession, IPR’s analysis shows.
In the week before Christmas, about 81 million Americans experienced food insecurity, meaning that one in four people in the so-called richest country in the world did not have reliable access to sufficient nutritious food needed for a healthy active life.
Luis Alarcon, Bresee youth center volunteer, gets help loading the foundation’s van with Thanksgiving supplies at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on 19 November. Photograph: Damian Dovarganes/AP
Our analysis, drawing on data from the nationwide surveys, found:
Hunger – defined as not having enough to eat sometimes or often during the previous week – has been reported between 19% and 29% of Black households with children over the course of the pandemic. This compares with 7% to 14% of white American families.
Latino families have experienced the second highest rates of hunger, ranging from 16% to 25% nationally.
Racial disparities varied across states: Black families in Texas reported hunger at four times the rate of white families in some weeks, as did Latinos in New York.
Overall, hunger declined sharply last month, but is falling far slower for people of color.
“Food insecurity and poverty are absolutely racialized, so it’s horrifying, but not surprising, that Black and brown people have suffered disproportionately,” said Paul Taylor, executive director of FoodShare, a Toronto-based food justice organization.
Overall, the rate of hunger for families with children has been on average 61% (41% to 83%) higher than for adult-only households.
This is particularly troubling as inadequate nutrition can damage children’s emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing, and the consequences can last a lifetime.
