Name:   Buteye - Subject:   Farmer's Market Racism Date:   12/29/2017 10:20:32 PM (updated 12/29/2017 10:29:19 PM)

Two College professors at San Diego State University are slamming Farmer's Markets for being racially biased and contend they create "white spaces" which are oppressive to minorities.They are criticizing Farmers Markets for causing "environmental gentrification" in which "habits of white" people are normalized. "Environmental gentrification" is defined as a process where "environmental improvements lead to...the displacement of long-term residents," according to the anthology. They go on to say that farmers markets are "exclusionary" because locals cannot "afford the food and/or feel excluded from these new spaces". The two professors, Joasarrat-Marcelli and Bosco received funding from the National Science Foundation to reseach "the role of food in structuring the everyday life in immigrant and low-income urban neighborhoods." Makes one think you can get funding for most anything, all you have to do is ask.They teach classes like "Geography of Food" and "Food Justice" where they argue "that farmers markets are often white spaces where the food consumption habits of white people are normalized". Is this the kind of education we expect our sons and daughters to be getting in classrooms in our educational institutions? Why not just concede that everything is "racially" biased and forego all the "hoopla" surrounding this subject?  How are courses such as these viewed when a person is being evaluated during a job interview?                                                                                                                          One spokesperson in the local San Diego area said these professors need to have their teaching credentials revoked as well as their degrees. As a side note, and I am not trying to overdo racism, but I shop from time to time in a store whose customers are mainly black. Am I being accused of invading "black" space? While shopping here I am able to have conversation with customers regardless of their race even though I may be outnumbered and don't feel any resentment based on my race.