Purposeful Starvation: A Modern Weapon Targeting South Dallas Communities

As the Dallas Weekly began to dive deeper into the history, the reasons and results of food deserts and how they have impacted communities around the world, specifically South Dallas, the series “Purposeful Starvation” was born. Though a cruel sounding term, it captures the idea that food insecurity has become a part of the everyday fight for a basic human right that people all over the world are engaged in.Throughout history, hunger has been a cruel and devastating weapon of war. The cruel war tactics that centered using hunger as a tool have historically included siege warfare, or the cutting off enemy cities or fortresses from food supplies has been a tactic for centuries. The goal is to force surrender by starving the population inside. A famous example is the Nazi siege of Leningrad during World War II, where hundreds of thousands died of starvation. More recently, the world has watched a series of blockades, where forces prevent food and other supplies from reaching a region can be a deliberate strategy to create widespread hunger. This tactic is often used in modern conflicts, like the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip. “As long as people send guns instead of food...