I am so upset about the USDA contacting farms and markets to discourage them from helping those who lost their SNAP benefits that I penned this letter to them during lunch today. Due the fact that I wrote an entire disseration on (childhood) trauma, I could not remain silent.
USDA,
In this country we take care of each other. Or at least we used to until the most vile administration to ever serve took up residence in the White House for a second term. The fact that the Trump administration is starving out Americans who cannot afford food is reprehensible. That your office is emailing small, local farms (as well as large corporations) to tell them that they are not allowed to offer support to those families who have lost benefits as a result of the government shutdown is both vile and unacceptable. I cannot begin to imagine how you all sleep at night knowing that you are denying Americans, of all ages, access to healthy, nutritious food.
By framing it under the guise that offering families who are currently without their SNAP benefits access to free or discounted food is somehow unfair to those who have access to food without needing to access SNAP is downright wrong and shows a lack of compassion and understanding on your part. If the narrative of it being essential that all Americans have access to food is the story you are going to go with so that you can feel better about your role in this situation that's great. Now, how about you work to make it happen so that all Americans, regardless of income level, have access to high quality, nutritious, organic food all of the time thus erradicating hunger in our country?! At the end of the day that is what the USDA and the government should be working to accomplish instead of working to ensure that people do not have their basic needs and human rights met.
Perhaps you have seen the attached image. Or maybe you have not. Regardless, you clearly need a refresher on the difference between what is equal and what is equitable and the implications of both for those you serve through your organization and through the SNAP program. Those families who are in need of assistance programs like SNAP or WIC are not the same as those who do not need to access those programs in order to eat/survive. Those who do not need to access SNAP and WIC s do not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from while POTUS and his cronies starve Americans to death simply to get their hateful agenda through rather than protecting Americans from starvation (roughly 34 million of whom are children). Congress needs to get back to work, do their jobs and put programs in place that take care of Americans rather than working to protect their personal agendas.
The harm and trauma that the Trump administration, as well as the USDA, is inflicting on Americans will be long lasting and not easily healed from. You have done more harm than good, and while I can appreciate that you are in a tough situation given that you are a government agency, you are 100% complicit as well. I can safely say that using the excuse of "we are just following orders" is incredibly cowardly and weak.
Do better! Stop emailing farms and markets to tell them that they cannot help "the least of these" during this time. America is no longer a beacon on a hill for the tired and poor and huddled masses, though I am not sure that we truly ever were. Instead we are now a dumpster fire of a country who is on the human rights watch list (deservedly so). Instead of working to Make America Great Again how about we work to Make America Kind Already? Our children, families and communities deserve better.
With Complete and Utter Disappointment,
Dr. Shel Frolich-Tscherne
