Strange Fruit

I'm in a conspiracy theory, anti-patriotic mood this morning. And it's all because of fruit.

I grew up in a dirt poor neighborhood and one thing that I will always remember is eating pomegranates on a regular basis. You could buy them at a grocery store, the corner store, anywhere. Back then we called them "Chinese Apples." Now pomegranates have been discovered by the mainstream. They are the new "it-fruit."



"Scientists say the leathery-skinned, orange-sized fruit with the sweet-tart juice may help with heart disease, cancer and problems associated with aging. It's loaded with antioxidants, vitamins, potassium, folic acid and iron. Pomegranates are the new superfood. Green tea and red wine, which have fewer antioxidants than pomegranates, are yesterday's health news." (Pomegranates: Jewels in the Fruit Crown by Bonnie Wolf)



Now you can't seem to find a pomegranate anywhere in the ghetto. They are only at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Or if they are in a grocery store, the price is not cheap. Granted, I've moved out of the poor neighborhood and can actually go to a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, I still can't help but to give the side-eye when I hear scientists singing the praises of this once available fruit staple in the poor man's diet. So yeah, (among other healthy fruits and vegetables) no more pomegranates in the Gitto!

The question is how come they don't want working class folk to have access to healthy foods?

Probably for the same reason "they" don't want poor people to . . .

- have health care
- be able to afford hybrid cars
- live in clean, safe and drug free neighborhoods
- receive an advanced education
- be able to afford a decent place to live off of a working-class salary
- hell . . . be able to afford anything decent off of a working-class salary

But you gotta admit, they DO make it easy for poor people to . . .
- buy guns
- buy liquor
- eat a whole lotta fast food and live an unhealthy lifestyle
- not pursue college because of money problems/below par education/hopelessness/depression
- mess up their own credit
- get preggars and collect a check and NOT get married
- live off a tiny check and not be able to save money
- live a stressful a$$ life

Can you tell I took a lot of Social Science classes? I know a lot of people might argue that . . .

#1 - the poor do it to themselves
To an extent this may be true but I believe that a society can only be judged by how they treat their most unfortunate and certain things should just be available to EVERYBODY (yes . . . even public school teachers!) Teacher's salaries in poor neighborhoods suck yall, for realz!
Sidebar: Growing up a teacher at my school was working overnight at the local gas station to make the ends meet. Talk about being surprised seeing your teacher outside of school. But also they need to weed out the bad school teachers (there's a lot of those in the ghetto too).

#2 - there are other countries that are waaaay worse.
Okay, my thing is . . . I don't think it's okay to excuse bad behavior based on it being worse somewhere else. You still gotta strive to do better. Sorry! (*whispers* not really sorry :-).

#3 - the gubment is doing all they can.
They ain't doing sheeit, but trying to maintain their present way of life.

So in conclusion, once I start seeing pomegranates back in the ghetto, I will start to believe that we may be turning the corner on this great disparity between the rich and poor in this country. But for now, I think that we have a lot of soul searching to do as a society.

THE END