S.N.A.P.: Systematic Neglect And Punishment

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” — Psalm 103:8

“Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” — Amos 5:24

Systematic Neglect And Punishment — or “SNAP” — has become the new normal that over 42 million Americans will feel in their kitchens, classrooms, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Tragically, millions voted for this reality, whether unknowingly, misled, or fueled by the illusion that hunger only happens to “others.” The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, once a bipartisan pillar of human dignity, now sits at the crossroads of political cruelty and national hunger — a place where food becomes a bargaining chip and hunger becomes a governing strategy.

SNAP was never a charity — it is a lifeline. Yet in the wealthiest nation on earth, some elected leaders toy with it as if the poor, elderly, disabled, and working class are expendable. Funding threats are not accidents or shortfalls — they are political choices. We’re witnessing a government that finds new ways to starve the vulnerable while subsidizing the powerful.

According to federal data from the USDA, SNAP supports more than 41–42 million Americans monthly:

• 39% are children
• 20% are seniors
• 37% live in households with a person who has a disability
• 60% of households with kids have earned income

This dismantles the insulting myth that assistance equals laziness. Most SNAP participants work or are unable to work due to age or disability — yet still face hunger in an economy where wages lag behind the cost of survival. Many seniors who built this nation now work full-time and still need help buying food.

And if you laugh at people going hungry, you might want to snap on yourself. Pride is a dangerous meal — it feeds ego, not families.

A Manufactured Crisis — Not a Monetary One

During shutdown threats, the USDA has funds available to keep food flowing — yet political directives attempt to block it. This isn’t fiscal responsibility; it is starvation policy. Several states have sued, arguing that withholding food aid during a shutdown is illegal because it is illegal to starve your own people while in office. Could this major American issue be one of the reasons why the Trump presidency wants to undocumented, not intended, the traditional routes of data to trace hunger in the U.S., and like ending the Food Insecurity Survey? In September 2025, the Trump administration announced it would stop publishing the government's annual Household Food Security Report, which for three decades had been the primary metric for measuring hunger in America. Opponents argued this move was intended to "mask" the harms of aid cuts and deliberately obscure the effects of his policies on the food security of Americans.

We live in a bizarre era when billionaires receive relief packages while children are threatened with empty lunchboxes. When humanitarian food shipments abroad are delayed, and now the same cruelty now creeps into our own borders.

This isn’t red vs. blue. This is moral vs. immoral.

Who Suffers Most?

Let’s tell the truth: hunger in America has never been neutral or equal.

According to Pew Research, African Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population but around 25% of SNAP recipients, reflecting generations of inequity. Hispanic families also face disproportionate food insecurity. And rural low-income white households — many from counties that overwhelmingly voted for anti-SNAP policymakers — suffer deeply as well. Only the Lord my God knows why many of the white farmers voted for similar policies for the current president, and now this.

Hunger doesn’t discriminate — but policy does. This was documented under past research done by an African American woman, a high IQ professional named Parker Gilkesson Davis, Senior Policy Analyst, Public Benefits Justice of the Center for Law and Social Policy (Clasp) who said, “taking away food assistance from Americans struggling to get employment is not based in strengthening work, but really is rooted in racial discrimination to justify program cuts.”

Most Americans, including many millionaires, are closer to needing an EBT card than becoming billionaires. One illness, job loss, or crisis is all it takes. In a nation where life can change overnight, humility should be our posture — not judgment.

Hunger Should Never Be a Political Weapon

SNAP recipients are not “takers.” They are:

• Children
• Working parents
• Veterans
• Disabled citizens
• Seniors who built this country

Food is not a luxury. Food is dignity, survival, and humanity.

The moment political leaders use hunger as leverage, they violate both constitutional duty and divine command.

“Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” — Proverbs 14:31

We are not called to tighten a belt around the necks of the hungry. We are called to feed them.

The New American Test

Ask yourself: Are we a nation that feeds children or starves them to prove a point?

This Halloween, as children knock on doors for candy, hungry families will knock on America’s conscience. Fill the candy bowls — and fill boxes of food for parents too. Community care is not charity — it is survival and solidarity.

History will not judge us by who won a political argument —

But by who fed the people. I was taught how to fish,

Right now, we stand at the intersection of:

• Justice and Judgment
• Policy and Compassion
• Power and Humanity

SNAP must never stand for Systematic Neglect And Punishment.

And America must never normalize cruelty disguised as governance.

Let justice roll. Let compassion lead. And let no child go hungry on our watch.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edmond W. Davis is a Social Historian, Speaker, Collegiate Professor, International Journalist, and former Director of the Derek Olivier Research Institute. He is an expert on various historical and emotional intelligence topics. He’s globally known for his work as a researcher regarding the history of the Tuskegee Airmen and Airwomen. He’s the Founder and Executive Director of America’s first & only National HBCU Black Wall Street Career Fest.