4 ms·

The crime statistics in the neighborhoods should suffice. One thing I periodically see on HN is how companies are discriminating against (group here) because th

The crime statistics in the neighborhoods should suffice. One thing I periodically see on HN is how companies are discriminating against (group here) because they aren't operating in high-crime neighborhoods. Obviously, a company maximizing revenues and minimizing liabilities will avoid such areas. So will most individuals delivering to them that don't want to get robbed (most likely), raped, or killed. They're more interested in playing it safe given there's piles of folks out to get them and alternatives with fewer risks. Funniest thing: most folks griping about this try to avoid the same areas and aren't volunteering to deliver high-value goods to them to address any perceived gaps. That's because they think the same things as or aren't much more inclusive than the people they're griping about. Virtue signaling and slacktivism over real activism for the groups they supposedly want to help every day.

dleslie 7y ago
Homelessness might evaporate over night if just a small fraction of home dwellers opened their doors to those in need; but there's good reason why doing so is prohibitively untenable, and the solutions are more complicated than simply making a bed or couch available. I don't think it's fair to claim that that who don't volunteer are virtue signaling slacktivists; they may simply believe the solutions must come from larger institutions than individual action.
dmix 7y ago
> That's because they think the same things It’s mostly because this type of worldview filters everything through the lens of power and when viewed through this context the way to ‘fix’ it is by tipping the scales culturally by not acknowledging the things that may cause a stigma and prevent ‘access’ to resources and jobs. So it’s probably less about what they believe to be true vs they think it’s not helpful to say it out loud.
User23 7y ago
I'm still waiting for the startup that solves the burning problem of a lack of healthy food options in poor minority neighborhoods. A twice weekly food truck that offered fresh healthy produce and meats at reasonable prices would greatly improve health and well-being in those areas.
- 8456523 7y ago
  Aren't you worried that such a startup will run up against the same systemic biases that have been preventing poor minority neighborhoods from accessing healthy food at reasonable prices for decades? In other words, food truck entrepreneurs have been around for decades, so why doesn't the service you imagine exist yet? Because so far no one with the right motivation, i.e., no one with their heart in the right place, has tried what you imagine?
  - User23 7y ago
    I haven't noticed an overwhelming systemic bias in the startup community, have you? Why wouldn't it work? Are you saying VCs won't invest in such an obviously worthy cause because they are racially or class biased? Are you saying that the demand just doesn't exist? That people in food deserts just want to be unhealthy because of some unspecified and perhaps unknowable reasons? I don't get it.
    - 8456523 7y ago
      If it were as easy as bootstrapping a retail food business by buying or renting a few food trucks, someone would've done it already. Food trucks are not exactly new. (The reason for my earlier mention of bias is because those that haven't understood that usually believe the obstacle to be systemic bias.)
  - barry-cotter 7y ago
    Poor neighbourhoods with immigrants have plenty of cheap healthy food in America. Those areas that’s don’t lack it because there’s no demand for it. > The Geography of Poverty and Nutrition: Food Deserts and Food Choices Across the United States > We study the causes of “nutritional inequality”: why the wealthy tend to eat more healthfully than the poor in the U.S. Using two event study designs exploiting entry of new supermarkets and households’ moves to healthier neighborhoods, we reject that neighborhood environments have economically meaningful effects on healthy eating. Using a structural demand model, we find that exposing low-income households to the same food availability and prices experienced by high-income households would reduce nutritional inequality by only 9%, while the remaining 91% is driven by differences in demand. In turn, these income-related demand differences are partially explained by education, nutrition knowledge, and regional preferences. These findings contrast with discussions of nutritional inequality that emphasize supply-side issues such as food deserts. http://www.nber.org/papers/w24094 http://www.nber.org/papers/w24094 https://web.stanford.edu/~diamondr/AllcottDiamondDube_FoodDeserts.pdf https://web.stanford.edu/~diamondr/AllcottDiamondDube_FoodDe...

dleslie 7y ago

Homelessness might evaporate over night if just a small fraction of home dwellers opened their doors to those in need; but there's good reason why doing so is prohibitively untenable, and the solutions are more complicated than simply making a bed or couch available. I don't think it's fair to claim that that who don't volunteer are virtue signaling slacktivists; they may simply believe the solutions must come from larger institutions than individual action.

dmix 7y ago

> That's because they think the same things It’s mostly because this type of worldview filters everything through the lens of power and when viewed through this context the way to ‘fix’ it is by tipping the scales culturally by not acknowledging the things that may cause a stigma and prevent ‘access’ to resources and jobs. So it’s probably less about what they believe to be true vs they think it’s not helpful to say it out loud.

User23 7y ago

I'm still waiting for the startup that solves the burning problem of a lack of healthy food options in poor minority neighborhoods. A twice weekly food truck that offered fresh healthy produce and meats at reasonable prices would greatly improve health and well-being in those areas.

8456523 7y ago
Aren't you worried that such a startup will run up against the same systemic biases that have been preventing poor minority neighborhoods from accessing healthy food at reasonable prices for decades? In other words, food truck entrepreneurs have been around for decades, so why doesn't the service you imagine exist yet? Because so far no one with the right motivation, i.e., no one with their heart in the right place, has tried what you imagine?
- User23 7y ago
  I haven't noticed an overwhelming systemic bias in the startup community, have you? Why wouldn't it work? Are you saying VCs won't invest in such an obviously worthy cause because they are racially or class biased? Are you saying that the demand just doesn't exist? That people in food deserts just want to be unhealthy because of some unspecified and perhaps unknowable reasons? I don't get it.
  - 8456523 7y ago
    If it were as easy as bootstrapping a retail food business by buying or renting a few food trucks, someone would've done it already. Food trucks are not exactly new. (The reason for my earlier mention of bias is because those that haven't understood that usually believe the obstacle to be systemic bias.)
- barry-cotter 7y ago
  Poor neighbourhoods with immigrants have plenty of cheap healthy food in America. Those areas that’s don’t lack it because there’s no demand for it. > The Geography of Poverty and Nutrition: Food Deserts and Food Choices Across the United States > We study the causes of “nutritional inequality”: why the wealthy tend to eat more healthfully than the poor in the U.S. Using two event study designs exploiting entry of new supermarkets and households’ moves to healthier neighborhoods, we reject that neighborhood environments have economically meaningful effects on healthy eating. Using a structural demand model, we find that exposing low-income households to the same food availability and prices experienced by high-income households would reduce nutritional inequality by only 9%, while the remaining 91% is driven by differences in demand. In turn, these income-related demand differences are partially explained by education, nutrition knowledge, and regional preferences. These findings contrast with discussions of nutritional inequality that emphasize supply-side issues such as food deserts. http://www.nber.org/papers/w24094 http://www.nber.org/papers/w24094 https://web.stanford.edu/~diamondr/AllcottDiamondDube_FoodDeserts.pdf https://web.stanford.edu/~diamondr/AllcottDiamondDube_FoodDe...