Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right of every person to be able to live with dignity. – Nelson Mandela 

Serving the people with charity is complicated…especially in a system driven by the triple threat braid made by strongholds of capitalism, militarism and racism. These are instruments of oppression that bind us in more ways than can ever be expressed in a few words. Yet, we will try.

The federal decision to cut SNAP benefits to the masses is reprehensible, especially in a social climate where inflation is on the rise, grocery prices are out-of-reach for many and job security is fleeting. According to a January 2025 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report,  more than 64% of the people who benefit from SNAP in New Jersey are in families with children. What is the real cost per person for these benefits? For less than $7 per person per day, the federal standard expectation, families are expected to feed families. Even with an imagination, that is challenging. Thankfully, we have school breakfast and lunch, right? Wait! Not so fast. What happens when schools are not in session? What happens when there is a culture of waste and social pressure to eat fast food or fancy-packaged meals? 

How do we get back to self-determination and social progress that can be dated back to the days when organizations like the NAACP, Urban League, UNIA-ACL, Divine 9 and many other organizations in and around urban centers embraced community gardens, holistic education and service within our community? We need to leverage the spaces we occupy to teach and reach. We need to tap into our past practices to grow what we need to survive: grow food, grow partnerships, grow our children to respect and value simplicity while creating pathways for all of us to be more than consumers.

Until we get that right, we need SNAP. It is a good thing that some states are picking up the tab on benefits (for this month at least). Be warned however…too much of that, will usher in a new shift in responsibility for the people to the state. It is 2025. Have you seen that tracker about that project? It is no coincidence that we are here in the final days of this monumental year. Chaotic? Yes. Planned? Perhaps. We must resolve to name the myriad of ways that poverty is being sustained by the federal government—both parties. This is a political problem about spending and how we see people as human resources, not a partisan issue. Just like any other complicated challenge we face as a people, we must look to who we are as people—not as Americans or citizens—for a solution. It is an ubuntu thing: I am because WE are.