Rantz: ‘Food apartheid’ is the new made-up activist controversy Seattle media member is pushing
Apr 23, 2025, 5:01 AM | Updated: 11:58 am

Seattle Police arriving the scene of the shooting in the parking lot of a Rainier Valley Safeway. (Photo courtesy of 成人X站 7)
(Photo courtesy of 成人X站 7)
The Associated Press periodically tweaks its style guide鈥攐ften reactively deferring to left-wing talking points. Progressive activists do the same, inventing controversies out of thin air. Where we once spoke of 鈥渇ood deserts,鈥 the Radical Left now insists on 鈥渇ood apartheid鈥濃攁nd expects us to pretend this contrived concept is happening in Seattle.
Seattle Times columnist Naomi Ishisaka is the claim that racism explains why some neighborhoods鈥攍ike those in south Seattle鈥攍ack the high鈥憅uality and plentiful grocery stores that predominantly white areas enjoy.
“While ‘food desert’ might lead people to think there鈥檚 something inevitable about certain communities lacking access to healthful food, ‘food apartheid’ argues that these inequities are the result of intentional choices, and can be changed,” Ishisaka writes.
‘Food apartheid’ over facts
Ishisaka, who hasn鈥檛 abandoned her dogmatic loyalty to the Black Lives Matter grift, insists that every disparity is proof of racism. Fewer grocery stores in so鈥慶alled Black neighborhoods? Racism!
“These inequities, part of what are called social determinants of health, contribute to health disparities that fall along racial and socio-economic lines. They result in poorer health outcomes for Black, Native American and some Hispanic people,” she claims鈥攂laming an anti鈥態lack, anti鈥慛ative American, and even anti鈥(some) Hispanic conspiracy that somehow spares Asians and poor whites.
Eschewing Occam鈥檚 Razor, she posits an orchestrated effort鈥斺減olicies such as redlining and urban renewal鈥濃攖o starve these areas of investment and amenities. Yet she glosses over the obvious reason Seattle鈥檚 black neighborhoods have fewer grocery options: crime.
Near her own house in Rainier Beach, she admits, 鈥渨e have two Safeways, the closest of which has been the site of numerous incidents of gun violence鈥濃攊ronically pinpointing the culprit herself.
Naomi Ishisaka already has the answer
Grocery stores run on razor鈥憈hin margins and will avoid neighborhoods where customers and staff face deadly risks. Perhaps that nuance escaped her ideologically blinded gaze.
Granted, the Radical Left did try to turn聽补濒濒听of Seattle into dangerous neighborhoods when they stopped prosecuting criminals and fought to keep them out of jail. Still, that Ishisaka doesn’t realize that a grocery store that doubles as a criminal’s outdoor shooting range is not a great business model shows you the extend of her ideological blind spots.
Oh the irony
It’s amusing to parse through the inconsistency coming from the Radical Left when they reflexively blame racism on everything. It’s particularly fun when that “everything is racist” mentality intersects with their anti-corporation talking points.
The irony is that the same activists who demand recognition of 鈥渇ood apartheid鈥 also oppose proactive policing, screeching 鈥淎CAB鈥 on every street corner. It鈥檚 almost as if they champion policies that keep crime thriving, just so they can keep declaring neighborhoods victimized鈥攚hile lecturing businesses for daring to turn a profit while staying away from violence.
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