Tavis Smiley . Special Feature . Road to Health . Guest . Lark Galloway-Gilliam

Lark Galloway-Gilliam

Community Health Councils Executive Director

The purchasing power is there. I think it's a corporate decision to not be in black and brown communities. Just as we've seen redlining around housing and insurance, the same kind of pattern is happening [with supermarkets].

Q: What happens when there aren't healthy food options in communities of color?

We don't have access to the kinds of things that keep our bodies healthy. And this nation is becoming increasingly preoccupied with this concept of obesity, and assuming that people have a choice, it's people's personal responsibility to lose weight and to be healthy. When in fact those resources to support a healthy lifestyle are absent in so many of our communities.

Q: What can we say to the black and brown people who live in these communities who don't have these healthy choices?

We can change the context of our communities. We're working with Ralph's supermarkets, to get them to come back into our community, and where they are, to clean up their act. The community can say, "We're not gonna shop here. Our dollars are as powerful as any other person's dollars. We deserve better care. We deserve better food." Consumers can make a big difference, but we've gotta get organized.

Lark Galloway-Gilliam is the Executive Director of Community Health Councils, a nonprofit community-based health advocacy organization. She's involved in the policy development of issues such as disparities in health between ethnic communities and health care coverage.

Related Episode

November 17th, 2005

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Recommended Web Sites

The goal of Healthy Stores interventions is to increase local capacity and access to healthy food in low-income communities.

The Health AffairsNational Conference of State Legislatures' site includes information on model programs and strategies that increase access to healthy food.

California Food Policy Advocates identifies some basic rules in lobbying for increased access of low-income Californians to nutritious and affordable food.

Published: September 15, 2005