Note: Tomorrow, Friday, June 5, at 2:00 CT, I will be hosting a Substack live call with Democratic Senate candidate Josh Turek, who will face Republican Ashley Hinson in the upcoming general election in November. Please join us. The link is here.
Luke Elzinga is the board chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition, a statewide anti-hunger advocacy organization. He’s the Policy and Advocacy Manager for the Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC).
We had a wide-ranging conversation about hunger in Iowa, Republican SNAP cuts nationally, and here in Iowa (thanks to all of the subscribers who watched it live!).
Luke lays it out—exactly how Republican cuts to SNAP are hurting our fellow Iowans, and how the current situation is unsustainable and will only worsen if we continue on the path Republicans are taking us.
At one point, we discussed how Republican cuts to SNAP constitute structural violence against the poor and hungry (I provide more examples and a deeper discussion of structural violence, including how it disproportionately hurts minorities, immigrants, and other marginalized groups here: An Old Woman Sitting on the Sidewalk: structural violence and lessons in humanity.)
Structural violence is a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs or rights.
Food, shelter, safety, and the opportunity to work are among our basic needs and rights, and preventing people from meeting them is structural violence.
We gloss over structural violence by suggesting these are simply “policy” or “ideological” differences.
Call it what it really is.
VIOLENCE.
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I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our recent work here. I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.
And I’m now on TikTok, believe it or not. Here you go.
