Week 5 Assignment- Obesity in America
GEN499: General Education Capstone
Instructor: Mark Bowles

Final Paper: Obesity in America Obesity in America is real and profoundly alarming when you look at the major impact it has on our communities. Major health concerns like diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure cases are at an all time high. Specifically, the disparity between low-income urban inner cities in regards to obesity as compared to more upper class wealthier communities makes you take pause. This relates to my professional goals of going back into my community as an activist and organizer of issues related to my environment, like health and education.
The author talks about how fast food has become a major source of nutrition in low income, urban neighborhoods. Ms. Freeman goes even further into this point describing how the popularity is mainly due to the fast food industry targeting this specific market, infiltrating schools, government subsidies and the federal food policy, which are all key factors in denying inner cities access to healthy food choices. The author describes this as food oppression. Food oppression is structured and targeted from institutionalized practices and policies of government and the fast food industry. “Government policies engendering food oppression range from providing public assistance insufficient to cover the cost of fresh food to collaboration with the fast food giants to ensure that their products dominate lunch-room counters and dinner tables. This state-sponsored racial inequality is obscured by the distinction between public and private spheres of action and is perpetuated by the myth of personal choice, even where a lack of options and resources severely limits the ability to exercise choice” (Freeman, 2007, p.222). Ms. Freeman offers solutions to this issue starting with reforms at the federal level of government. She also calls on local community organizations to get involved and create awareness. Her main goal is to emphasize that food oppression is a form of institutionalized inequality that