Independent Sources; The Argentine Pope

On this edition of Independent Sources, the Argentine hope, hope that Pope Francis' appointment may signal a move towards a less conservative Catholic church. And what's eating black women, the lack of access to nutritious food in poor communities, a contributing factor to the high number of black women who are overweight or obese. Welcome to Independent Sources, I'm Abia Shola. Pope Francis' recent appointment had the world a buzz that the Catholic church's newest leader was Latino. There are many who feel that he represents the church sending a strong message to the faithful that it's no longer out of touch with a congregation. On the other hand, there are already questions about whether or not he truly is Latino

and criticism about his silence during Argentina's dirty war in the late 70s and early 80s. I spoke with Kerry Webber, Associate Editor of the Catholic Publication America Magazine. We talked about what the new Pope would mean for the future of other minorities and the leadership of the church. Kerry, welcome to the studio. Thank you. Is this election of Pope Francis a signal of a new direction that the Catholic church may be going towards or is it a result of the internal machinations of the Vatican? Well, I think a lot remains to be seen, obviously. We're only a few days into his papacy, but I do think that it is an indication of the awareness among the cardinals that the church in Latin America is important, that the church is outside of Europe, that there is a global church, but I don't think he was picked solely because he was from Latin America, that would actually probably be insulting.

He has shown humility, he has shown grace, he has shown great leadership skills and so I think he's definitely got, he's the total package of a Pope right now and he's an interesting kind of compromise candidate that challenges both, I guess, sides and if you look at the church with liberal and conservative sides of the church to be more open to all of the teachings of the church and challenges the very idea that the church has sides at all. How is he moderate, if you could explain? Sure, well one of the things that appeals to a lot of people on the left are social justice issues, a concern for the poor and some of the things that appeals to people traditionally on the right would be sort of his outspokenness against gay marriage and some certain social issues. So between those two, I think both quote unquote sides find something with which they can identify in him that is very important to them and I think probably people within the church always want to sort of shape the Pope's views and the churches used to their

own a little bit so I don't think he's going to please everybody but I think he's surprising everybody and in surprising everybody he kind of opens people up just by the very nature of being surprised, I think we become a little bit more vulnerable, we get caught off guard and I think we're open to more points of views to grace as the church would put it. Some journalists have expressed feelings against him being thought as a Latino because of his Italian lineage and so what are you hearing in that regard from the Catholic community? Should he be called Latino? I think one of the important things is that he grew up in Argentina and that he understands the culture of Latin America and I think that's really key. I the other thing I think is that his parents were immigrants, they came from Italy and I think a lot of American Latinos in the United States identify with the immigration experience or know someone who is immigrated and I think those two things people can identify with

and getting down to the very specifics of ethnicity is less important than understanding the identity that goes along with it and I think that he's able to do that. Can we expect more Latin America or ethnic priests being ordained? Well that's an interesting question right now in the church in Latin America makes up about 40% of the global church so there's obviously many many people there who could potentially become vocations in the church. In the United States the young adult, sort of the millennial generation, about 50% of American Catholics in America are Hispanic or Latino and so this is obviously more vocations will have to come from this population if the church is going to continue because that population continues to grow within the church however there's been some challenges because there was a study done last fall that found that although Latino Catholics make up 35% of the American

church overall they only make up about 15% of the seminary class and the diocesan seminaries for 2012 and I think it was only about 9% for the professed religious in that same year the year before and so they're not joining the priesthood or religious orders at the same percentage as they are a part of the church. Two reasons we're found in study. One is that Latinos are not going to Catholic schools as frequently as they used to and that going to a Catholic school is a major factor in sort of considering a vocation. I think a lot of the Catholic schools were or have been run by priests or religious and so in order to experience a vocation yourself it helps to have seen others experience of that religious vocation so if you don't see priests and you don't see nuns sort of every day growing up you don't get to necessarily

have that personal relationship with them and I think a lot of people ask a lot of the priests and religious will ask students throughout the years have you ever considered this and that's often one of the first steps towards vocations and if nobody asks you you don't have that influence then it's less likely that you would consider it. The other factor that they found was that Latino Catholics were not attending college or receiving higher education at the same rate as other Catholics and that the need for a college experience and for higher education was sort of crucial to the seminary experience and to joining the priesthood or religious and so it's clearly a larger issue it's not just a church issue it's making sure that we have education for all people in our country for all Catholics just as a general baseline human right and then hopefully within that why educating people in hopefully putting people in touch with religious they can consider a vocation if they feel that call. The rise of secularism in the northern hemisphere

has had to do on one hand most recently with the scandal the sexual abuse scandals by Catholic priests how do you think that the new pope will handle this and him being Latin American will impact the numbers here in the U.S. Well I think that he's known as a very competent administrator and I think that's a necessary quality for someone who's going to deal with what is frankly a mess in the church in terms of some of the cover-ups and abuses that have happened with regarded the sexual abuse scandal and the other thing is that he demonstrated in the moment that he walked out onto the balcony a great humility and a great willingness to listen he asked the people of God in the square to pray for him first and he really he bowed down and he took a moment of silence and those are qualities of somebody who those are the qualities needed for by someone who will be able to deal with this excuse crisis in the church thing there's a great humility that's needed in

the church there's a great need for listening to the people who have been abused to the people who have complained and sued and been hurt by the church and I think that in order to deal with that he has to be humble he has to listen he has to be a good administrator so far he exhibits those qualities the other thing is that in terms of him inspiring Catholics to join the church I think one of the things a lot of Catholics complain about when they leave the church is that they feel like the hierarchy is out of touch with their lives they don't think that the church represents them in any way and so everyone likes to see someone like them in a position of influence in a position of power and just represented in an organization that you're a part of so in that sense it will be a good example for Latino Catholics but on the other hand I also think just in general he relates he seems to relate very well to the daily lives of everyday regular people he does not

caught up in some kind of ivory tower he rides the bus to work he cooks his own meals he doesn't want to take his limo everywhere you know he he's wearing his brown shoes no fancy red ones we have just about a minute to go and I'd like to talk about him being an Argentine and Argentina recently having passed laws that legalized gay marriage is this a sign that the Catholic church so to speak is getting it that it should be moving in a different direction well he was very vocal against those laws in Argentina and I don't think that we can expect any change on the church teaching in that anytime soon I do think that given his willingness to listen as I mentioned to all sorts of different populations within the church and groups that are often very marginalized but that is a good sign that he is willing to hear the experience of people in the church

listen to that he went and kissed the feet of patients with AIDS he went and washed the feet of mothers in a maternity center and he just really oh and he advocated for the baptism of children who were born to unwed mothers when others wouldn't baptize them he's really in touch with people who are marginalized and I know a lot of the gay and lesbian population the church feel marginalized and sometimes very rightly so and hopefully he can be able to listen to their experience to hear that and to hopefully minister to that with grace and love Carrie Webber thank you for being in city with us today thank you for having me still to come a weighty problem for black women before that is life as LeBron has some other news thanks vianora here's a look at some headlines from the ethnic and community media extension continues to brew in brooklyn after a young black teen was shot and killed by police some writers are speaking out against the way

the mainstream media is covering the aftermath in an op-ed piece published in the independent Natalia Tylem and Zach Zill take issue with the way some media have referred to the demonstrations as riots members of the East Flatbush community where 16-year-old Kimani Gray lived and died have been protesting since the March 9th incident Tylem and Zill also point out that the 67th precinct in the area is notorious among brooklyn residents for having a long record of abuse and brutality another op-ed focused on the issue of redistricting the piece was published in the gay city news and written by Andrew Berman the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for historic preservation Berman argues that redistricting lines will weaken the LGBT vote in many areas such as the third council district that district comprises all of Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen and the West Village areas that have a high population of gays your rezoning gives the area a population of close to 170,000 residents and only one vote that would count towards elections

from L.D.A.R. La Prenza a 33-year-old Latino organization is on the verge of closing down due to rising rents since 2007, La Casa de la Hrencia bought it a Kenya, began offering music, folk dance and art appreciation classes to reduce the organization's dependence on government funding but the organization might end up closing down due to an increase in its rent at its Manhattan location. La Tisha Rodriguez is the institution's executive director and has been holding fundraisers to try and keep La Casa afloat. The Chinese have become one of the top foreign nationals that demand real estate property in New York City. Brooklyn Inc reports that a growing number of Chinese citizens are investing in property abroad with the United States being the most popular location. Over 40% of respondents to a sufund.com survey said immigration is their main reason for buying real estate overseas. 25% said education and 23% said investment. The Chinese now rank second in the United States housing market. And finally, the Edward

Murrow High School's chess team recently immerses the winner of the New York State High School Championship, 20 private and public schools competed in the event. The Brooklyn School faced its stiffest competition against the Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics. They came in second. The school's math teacher and head of the chess team, Elliot Weiss, says the team success is likely due to the diverse ethnic backgrounds they represent. Those were just a few stories making headlines this week. Independent sources will be back right after this. Many African American women are proud of their size. Even in pop culture,

songs like Booty Lishes from Beyoncé Knolls and films like Real Women Have Curves have sought to celebrate the bodies of the average woman of color. However, there are statistics that show that four out of five black women are overweight or obese. It's a trend that may have more to do with food access than bad eating habits. I spoke with Tanya Fields of the Black Project, a food justice organization based out of the Bronx about this issue of food access. But first, we'll see this piece about Michaela Angela Davis. She's an image activist who works to promote positive images among people of color. Davis has joined the growing ranks of black women who are starting programs around the country to get healthy. So, okay, so then we've got the garlic popping, right? And I just put the greens right in. Michaela Angela Davis has made eating fresh and healthy food a part of her daily life. This will last my dope daughter and I halfway through the week.

The 48-year-old also maintains a consistent exercise regimen. But she's not doing it alone. Last December, the image activist teamed up with her friends and started a workout campaign called 30 for 30. Her goal was to get black women moving. We launched this 30 for 30 and we encouraged people to do 30 minutes of exercise or movement for 30 days. That's it. Even if you put on music and freestyle dance and just move for 30, like feel who you are, feel your body again and we got you and we're connected. Then she began a healthy eating mission called Fresh Friday. Fresh food, when you think about it, really is prettier. The challenge, eat only fresh and non-processed foods on Fridays. Davis and other participants use social media to attract black women around the country to the program. They share information on healthy meals and photos of their workouts using catchy hashtags like fit is fly and freshest fly.

She was moved to action when she learned a few alarming statistics. According to the Centers for Disease Control, African American women have the highest obesity and diabetes rates compared to other groups in the US. In 2010, black women were 70 percent more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white women. We're dying from preventable things. It's like we didn't survive the institution of slavery and Jim Crow and the civil rights movement to kill ourselves in dinner. Beyond the nutritious menus and workout sessions, she also enlisted the support of peak performance Jim in Manhattan to hold a series of seminars called What's Eating Black Women. What she's found is that even among African American women from high income brackets, issues like depression and feelings of isolation at some neighborhood gyms play a major part in the health and fitness disparity. We found that there were a lot of really practical reasons why some black women weren't working out. They didn't feel safe in certain

spaces working out that their bodies were so as not a size like you go into one of these really elite gyms and you're the only super-curved girl in there that they've ever seen aside from Kim Kardashian and there's all this attention on you. We roll together. There's two or three or four of you. It creates a different story, right? A, it's fun. B, you have some protection. Davis isn't alone in her pursuit. Across the country, black women are banding together in different ways to change the way the community regards healthy eating and fitness. Like an Atlanta-based mother daughter duo who recently released a DVD titled Black Girls Workout II and a growing movement called Black Girls Run which started out as an online fitness blog. Today, the organization has over 70 run groups throughout the country. I use a low fat olive oil spray. Davis says the response to her campaign has been overwhelming but there have been some

challenges. The food piece is a little bit harder so we have to be much more consistent and a little bit more creative in how we present how to eat because we literally find people don't know. They go down the aisle of produce and don't know what to do. She plans to launch another month of 30 for 30 this spring. She's also in talks to get sponsorship to host a Black Girl boot camp. I think really what's missing is this sense of support and sisterhood and community and that we're not going to leave you. Like this is this is not going to be just a moment. Like we want to be fit and fly and fresh to death till the day we rest. So Tanya, as an activist, you've been advocating for urban communities that don't have access to healthy food. How do you think that possibly plays a role in the high number of obesity

rates among Black women? I think there's two things, right? So I think watching the clip with Mikayla and knowing her work, I think she taps a little bit and talks about institutional racism, this idea that many of us are survivors of many of the traumas that present itself in this country and manifest in our communities. And that also extends to food. And so if you look at our food system, it's never been fair. It's never been equitable. The actual beginning of this country was very much about being sort of on the backs and exploitation of indigenous people and enslaved Africans. And so when you disconnect people from the land, when you disconnect them from their culture of food, then that really starts this whole idea of disconnecting them from their culture. And so I think that many folks, many indigenous folks and many folks of color around the world have always sort of had this idea of like, you know, collards, yams, these all came from the continent of

Africa. These are all things that we ate in a very healthy way. And then we experienced a trauma of oppression and food and many times became an outlet for feeling that sense of protection, feeling that sense of wanting to feel good, this idea of comfort food, and also just trying to do a lot with a little bit, right? And on top of that, then there's been a very deliberate and intentional campaign, if you will, by big agriculture to put poor quality foods in low-income communities, despite whatever race they might be. But when you think about that and think about the fact that this is a country that where race certainly does correlate with income, then of course you have a recipe, no pun intended, for unhealthy eating habits, unhealthy lifestyles in terms of lack of activity and people not having access to the foods. That way you're out in the community working. Give us an idea of how bad this problem is in terms of the lack of action.

If you find me on Instagram, I actually have gone on a one-woman campaign to expose many of the foods that are available and being sold at relatively high prices in the community. I went in and went to go get strawberries for my children. And as I've, because I've learned through experience, don't just pick them up and go buy them, open them up and look at them. Well, they're full of mold, right? Some have maggots on the bottom. You're paying two dollars a bunch, a small bunch of broccoli and it's wearing a blue fur coat. You are looking at scallions that are limp. You are looking at, if there are collardreens in kale, they're full of holes, they're starting to turn brown. This is what is being passed off as food in many communities like mine. And so if your person who is low income working class every dollar counts, well then you're not going to spend your hard-earned money or the little bit of money that you have from food stamps on that type of produce. So what you will do are buy things at a shelf stable, shelf life stable, which means you're looking at tons of sugar, tons of salt.

And then that piece that Michaela talked about as well. Also, if you're coming from sort of cyclical poverty where this has been the purchasing habits of your family, then you may not even know how to prepare the produce that is in front of you. I've heard you say on another video that food trucks pass by a lot of the neighborhoods, the urban neighborhoods that you're working for. Can you explain that and how that works? So I was talking specifically about my community, which is very ironic when you talk about food hardship because my community hunts point in the Bronx is called the bread basket because the largest food distribution center in the world exists, not even a mile away from me. We get 16,000 diesel truck trips every day. The majority of them going back and forth to the distribution center, Baldor, very high in sort of specialty boutique food line is in my community. All of these different things are in my community. They contribute to the negative air quality, but we don't get

that food. So we don't even have access to the food that might be able in some small way to offset many of the environmental impacts that exist of this food coming back and forth. So my community literally feeds the northeast corridor of this country and we can't even go into the fine fair or the sea town and find these things in the owls of the supermarket. Wow. For years, we've been hearing about food deserts. Can you explain what that is and why some communities are left out? Well, I actually don't like the word food desert, particularly because I think that it is a word that has been propagandized by large grocery store chains as an excuse to bring in large grocery stores, which a lot of times if you've got a whole foods or really fancy sittarella comes into your community. That probably means gentrification is right on the heels of that. And so I want to think about food in a way where people who live in our communities have access to food and also our stakeholders in being able to benefit from

the economic development opportunities that present themselves when new businesses, particularly new food businesses come in. But to get down to the definition of what a food desert is, what it essentially means is that certain communities, low-income communities, low-income communities of color many times within a geographic region, don't have access to healthy, affordable, culturally relevant food in their communities. What it looks like is that means certain communities actually was in Hudson, New York this weekend, which is actually upstate, and there was no grocery store within the city limits. And so for poor people, a low-income people, a working-class people in that town that don't have cars, then they have to buy their food at the Bodega. It means that people in my community who say this, you know, the local grocery store is not adequate. It means that they would then have to drag their children on a train or a bus, buy groceries, drag them along with

their children, back on a train or a bus, back into the communities. Well, that's not feasible for many people. So what it means is that they are then relegated to having to either purchase low-quality food that may not be nutritionally fit for their families, or many times they're just buying whatever they can, and that they can afford at the gas station, the Bodegas, and low-quality hot food retailers, so the Chinese place, the fried chicken place, the, you know, the Kuchi Frito spot. So as an activist, what kind of work have you been doing to help correct the issue? So my organization, the Black Project, really is about how do we create economic development opportunities for low-income women in youth? Because when you're looking at poverty in many communities, then it does really have a very feminine face. And so when we really thought about how do we create pathways out of poverty, sort of attack this issue that is present within poverty,

which really sort of exist around food justice and food sovereignty and, you know, food apartheid, as I like to call it, we started thinking about what were some of the things in our community that were actually looked at as blights, but that could be access. So we started looking at a lot of the underdeveloped land in our community and thinking about how do we work with urban farmers and community gardeners who are growing food to create a network of sort of food purveyors that we had previously overlooked. And then how do we look at the underdeveloped land and actually create new safe green spaces that grow food? So right now we're working with our local council women to get an urban farm in our community and community district too, which is, you know, Hunts Point Longwood in parts of my haven. And it's called the Libertad Urban Farm. You know, Libertad is a Spanish word for like liberty freedom. And so we've been working on that. And it's very difficult in New York City to get, you know, property, even if it's underdeveloped. The other

really big campaign that we're working on now is that we are raising money to create a veggie mobile market. So we have a bus ironically called Sugar Cube that was an old school bus that we've repainted. She runs on vegetable oil. So we're really thinking about making sure that as we bring food into our community, there we're not contributing to poor air quality. And we are going to deck her out with solar panels and storage and a refrigeration unit and get a couple of Vitamixes so we can make smoothies. What areas will she be? She will go around the South Bronx. So we're going to hit, you know, Mott Haven, Grand Concourse, Hunts Point, Longwood, you know, Kingsbridge. All of these places where you've got low income and working class people of color who want, you know, produce. Thank you so much for being on the show time. Thank you for having me. That's our show this week. Thanks for staying tuned. Till next time, be independent and mind it.