Scholar to lecture on U.S. hunger problem

September 08, 2008

Hunger is a national epidemic, and the United States is the only Western industrial democracy with that sad affliction, says an academic authority who will speak at St. Michael's College on Tuesday.

J. Larry Brown's talk on "Hunger in America -- the Invisible Epidemic," at 7 p.m. in the McCarthy Arts Center, will inaugurate the annual fall lecture series sponsored by the college's Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice. The series' theme this year is a "celebration of human rights," in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

That declaration might be an eye-opener for many who haven't read it. It dates from 1948, when it was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, and it asserts that everyone has a plethora of rights -- such as the right to rest and leisure, the right to form and join trade unions, the right to nationality, the right to privacy and the right not to be tortured.

Brown, director of the National Center on Hunger and Poverty who in the 1980s chaired the Harvard-based Physicians Task Force on Hunger in America, has advocated a "right to food."

The Declaration's Article 25 speaks to that: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical and necessary social services ..."

The U.S. hunger problem has grown since the late 1970s, Brown said Wednesday in a telephone interview. Three decades ago, thanks in part to policies supported by Republican administrations and Democratic Congress, hunger was largely limited to geographic pockets, he said. Since then and over the last few years, hunger has increased "significantly," and Brown attributes that to "the bad economy, high energy prices, and failed public policies and lack of leadership" on the part of both Democrats and Republicans.

Today, Brown said, one can walk into any community of working families and find hunger. He puts the U.S. hungry population at about 35 million. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 11 percent of the nation's households were "food insecure" in 2006. ("Food secure" is defined as having access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life.)

Brown said U.S. hunger is often hidden -- one doesn't often see images of emaciated children that are stereotypical of Third World famines. Hungry Americans might look OK, and they might even be obese, yet still qualify as undernourished in a medical sense, he said.

The U.S. hunger problem is not technical, he said, but political. He faults both parties for having "dropped the ball."

One immediate need, he said, is to step up enrollment in such existing programs as food stamps and free school breakfasts. Just 68 to 70 percent of eligible people get food stamps, he said, and only 40 percent of eligible children get free school breakfasts.

At the Tuesday event, Doug O'Brien, executive director of the Vermont Food Bank, will provide a Vermont perspective on hunger. Contact Tim Johnson at 660-1808 or tjohnson@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com Speaker series schedule

The fall speaker series sponsored by the Edmundite Center for Peace and Justice at St. Michael's College marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Each of the three speakers in the series, titled "A Celebration of Human Rights," has made a contribution to the cause of human rights.

All events are free, open to the public and take place in the McCarthy Arts Center at St. Michael's College.

7 p.m. Tuesday. J. Larry Brown, director of the National Center on Hunger and Poverty and a faculty member of the Harvard School of Public Health, speaks on "Hunger in America -- The Invisible Epidemic." Co-sponsored by St. Michael's MOVE program.

7 p.m. Nov. 3. Elias Chacour, archbishop of Akka, in Haifa, Israel. Co-sponsored by the St. Michael's Lecture Series.

7 p.m. Dec. 10. Evans Rubara, investigative journalist from Tanzania. Co-sonsored by Vermont Global Health Coalition and SGAC.

The U.N. General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, 1948. For the full text, go to www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

September 08, 2008

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