The civil war between the Hutus and Tutsis populations has driven farmers from their land. From 1990-1993 fighting displaced over 900,000 people. When violence resumed in 1994 about one million Tutsi people and their supporters were killed. In Guatemala Indians are the majority but they continue to suffer from poverty and hunger. Indians are considered a pool of cheap labor and their culture is endangered by military governments.
Racism is at the root of the wars that destroy Indian villages and way of life.
In the U.S. African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities control fewer resources and have less access to food than the white majority. Hunger is the most basic indicator of economic distress. In America, hunger is a social disease sustained by neglect. The hunger that results from racial difference in well-being in the U.S. translates into poor health. Low birth rates, anemia among pregnant women, high infant mortality rates are all health problems that result from hunger.