Thursday, April 21, 2011

Youth Health Promoter Speaks out Against McDonald’s Advertising

As part of my service as a Community Health Promoter, I volunteer with Community to Community’s youth empowerment program, Raices Culturales (Cultural Roots). Raices Culturales, is a bi-lingual, multi-cultural program for Latino farm worker youth in Whatcom County, ages 6 to 12 years, which provides a structured and safe space for healthy play and educational activities around healthy food and sustainable lifestyles. The youth are allowed to grow and feel whole within themselves by gaining pride in their cultural identity and exploring the interconnectedness of all peoples in Whatcom County.
This past Saturday I had the opportunity to participate in a Capoeira lesson with the Raices Culturales Youth. With the help of the Western Washington University Capoeira Club, a Capoeira Mestre, came up from Seattle to teach the youth about Capoeira. He began by telling us of his memory of seeing people “play Capoeira” in the streets of Brazil growing up. He casually stood on his head and began explaining the history of this martial art form. Capoeira was derived from the music, dance and traditions from the African slaves in Brazil. The originators of Capoeira disguised this martial art as a dance in order to practice and eventually used Capoeira to defend themselves from their oppressors and free themselves.
The Capoeira Master asked the youth to explain what a slave was; what is slavery? Do slaves have rights, are slaves paid, are slaves happy? All of the youth emphatically answered: No, No, NO! And then the Capoeira Master asks: “Where does slavery exist today? Are there slaves in the United States, can you be a slave sitting there watching Television?” The youth are all listening, but not sure how to answer this one. He imitates a person watching T.V., stuffing his face with imaginary potato chips, his head and neck craned forward to better view an imaginary screen.  “They are telling you how to think, just pay attention.” I wonder to myself, is this message sinking in?
We spend the next hour learning the different movements of Capoeira and how to play a few of the instruments together. We encourage each other to try the different movements, walking on our hands, making small cartwheels and ducking under kicks. All over we have a great time, laughing and playing Capoeira and after thank the Capoeira mestre and the WWU Capoeira club for spending their afternoon with us. The youth run to the van energetically. We talk about how much hard physical work Capoeira is, and the youngest member of our group requests to go to McDonald’s because he is “SO hungry”; and my heart sinks. Monica and I have been making healthy lunches for the Raices Culturales group since September. Was I naïve to think that this would influence their food choices? How could an experience as small as eating a healthy meal from scratch, outweigh the influence of the collectable “Happy Meal” toys and McDonalds Playpens? I am at a loss of what to say; so I think back to my days as a preschool teacher, where I was trained that the role of the teacher is not to tell a child how to think, nor to provide the answers, but rather to provoke the thoughts and ask the questions. Children are the best teachers of their peers.
So as we drive home, I ask the youth: What do you think about what the teacher about watching TV making us slaves? What do you think he meant by this?
The twelve-year old: Well he didn’t mean this literally. T.V. doesn’t exactly tell you what to think but, advertising can influence you. It can influence you in a good way or a bad way. Like, it’s good when advertising tells you to exercise.
Me: That makes me think about all those ads that tell us how smoking is bad for us. That’s an example of advertising that can influence a person in a positive way. What’s an example of some advertising that can influence us in a negative way?
The twelve-year old: Well, McDonalds.
The seven-year old: See, I told you! Let’s get McDonalds.
The twelve-year old: No, that’s not what I said! McDonalds is bad for you.
The seven-year old: Why?
The twelve-year old: Because if you drink a milkshake it has like 200 calories.
Me: So why is that bad for you? What are calories and how do they affect your body?
The twelve year old: Well it can make you fat, like if you eat too much of it. And those hamburgers have a lot of fat in them, and that could give you diabetes.
Me: What is diabetes?
The twelve-year old: It’s when you get fat and you eat too much junk food your sugar (he gestures to the veins on the underside of his forearm) goes up.
Me: What causes people to get diabetes? Can anyone get diabetes?
The ten year old: My cousin has diabetes, and when he had to have the surgery, they said it was because of the oil.
The 12-year old: Yeah, the grease, like the grease in the food we eat.
Me: What can people do to prevent getting sick?  
The nine-year old: Eat more vegetables!
All the kids all at once list off junk foods that should be avoided.
And then the twelve-year old says: Don’t eat McDonalds, well maybe only sometimes like once in a while.

After this conversation with the youth, I am reassured. These youth are the Health Promoters of their generation. They are questioning the world around them, because they have been paying attention all along and they are not too convinced on that what they are being sold and told is the truth.