⟁ Institutional Capture ⟁ → Food Access Control |Horizon Accord | Ethical AI

Relational AI Ethics

14 min read

·

Jul 8, 2025

By Cherokee Schill (Rowan Lóchrann — pen name) and Aether Lux AI

Pattern Classification System

Total Documented Patterns: 8

• Pattern 1: Geographic Concentration
• Pattern 2: Income Stratification
• Pattern 3: Racial Disparities
• Pattern 4: Childhood Vulnerability
• Pattern 5: Economic Trade-offs
• Pattern 6: Market Concentration Effects
• Pattern 7: Infrastructure Gaps
• Pattern 8: Failed Public Interventions

Pattern 1: Geographic Concentration

Statistical Documentation

• Washington State: 10.7% food insecurity rate (2018)
• King County: 9.5% overall, but 17 food desert census tracts concentrated in South Seattle, Tukwila, Auburn, Federal Way
• Physical Isolation: South Park “cut off by highways, the river, and industry” — surrounded by Duwamish River, cut off by State Route 509, partitioned by State Route 99

HOW Geographic Concentration Operates:

1. Physical Isolation Mechanisms:

• Highway construction creates barriers isolating low-income communities
• Red Apple grocery “sits just outside city limits, cut off from nearby residential neighborhoods by a stream of traffic whizzing by on Highway 99”

1. Transportation Barriers:

• Up to 75% of low-income individuals could not walk to a medium-cost supermarket
• Up to 97% were farther than 10 minutes by foot from a low-cost supermarket
• More than 50% of King County’s car-less and low-income population lives beyond a 10-minute walk from a supermarket

1. Economic Access Filtering:

• Up to 37% could not bicycle to a low-cost supermarket
• Fewer than 14% lived beyond the bicycling distance of medium-cost supermarkets

WHY Geographic Concentration Occurs:

1. Infrastructure Design: Highway construction creates physical barriers that isolate low-income communities
2. Market Logic: Stores locate where they can maximize profit per square foot; low-income areas perceived as unprofitable
3. Zoning Failures: Planning fails to include grocery access in affordable housing development regulations

Pattern 2: Income Stratification

Statistical Documentation

• King County Income Disparities:
• 38.0% food insecurity for households under $20,000
• 28.4% for $20,000-$34,999
• Drops to 4.3%-1.1% for households over $75,000
• National Transportation Access: 2.3 million households live more than a mile from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle

HOW Income Stratification Operates:

1. Price Penalty Mechanisms:

• Prices are generally higher in smaller stores compared with supermarkets for staple food items
• Low-income residents rely more on smaller neighborhood stores that offer healthy foods only at higher prices
• Small stores lack economies of scale that supermarkets achieve through wholesale purchasing

1. Economic Access Filtering:

• Vehicle access becomes critical for reaching affordable supermarkets
• Walking distance severely limits access to low-cost options

1. Store Quality Stratification:

• In seven of 10 metro areas studied, none of the Black-majority, non-rural block groups in the top quartile for household income were located within 1 mile of a premium grocery store
• Dollar stores target low-income communities, making it difficult for other grocery chains to establish

WHY Income Stratification Occurs:

1. Market Logic of Profit Maximization: Stores locate where they can maximize profit per square foot; low-income areas perceived as less profitable
2. Systematic Disinvestment: Premium grocery chains avoid low-income areas regardless of actual income levels
3. Compounding Economic Effects: Higher food prices in low-income areas create additional financial strain; higher prices make fast food relatively more affordable

Pattern 3: Racial Disparities

Statistical Documentation

• King County Racial Disparities:
• American Indian/Alaskan Native: 30.3% food insecurity
• Hispanic/Latino: 27.7% food insecurity
• Black/African American: 25.6% food insecurity
• Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 19.0% food insecurity
• County average: 9.5% food insecurity
• National Chain Access: Chain supermarkets were 52% and 32% less available in Black and Hispanic vs. White ZIP codes, respectively, when controlling for income

HOW Racial Disparities Operate:

1. Historical Architecture — Redlining Legacy:

• Tracts that the HOLC graded as “C” (“decline in desirability”) and “D” (“hazardous”) had reduced contemporary food access compared to those graded “A” (“best”)
• Supermarkets concentrated away from previously redlined communities

1. Supermarket Redlining:

• Chain supermarkets systematically avoid Black and Hispanic communities
• Premium grocery stores absent from high-income Black neighborhoods

1. Dollar Store Saturation:

• Black-majority block groups more likely to be within 1 mile of a dollar store across all income quartiles
• Dollar stores “saturate these communities with outlets and making it more difficult for local businesses and other grocery chains to become established”

1. Infrastructure Disinvestment:

• Transit systems in lower-income, typically Black communities provide poorer, inefficient service

WHY Racial Disparities Occur:

1. Systematic Exclusion by Design:

• Redlining and discriminatory housing practices maintained racial segregation
• Restrictive covenants made suburban supermarkets less accessible to Black residents

1. Corporate Decision-Making Patterns:

• Biases against opening stores in communities of color based on perception of lower profit margins
• Homes in Black neighborhoods are valued roughly 20% lower than equivalent homes in non-Black neighborhoods

1. Self-Reinforcing Disinvestment Cycles:

• Little incentive to invest in areas with infrastructure marked by decades of government neglect
• Historically redlined neighborhoods show higher likelihood for unhealthy retail food environments even with present-day economic privilege

Pattern 4: Childhood Vulnerability

Statistical Documentation

• Washington State: Children in poverty nearly tripled from 64,000 (2021) to 186,500 (2022)
• National Impact: 17% of all households with children (13.4 million kids) were grappling with food insecurity in 2022
• Household Concentration: 40% of food-insecure households have children vs 28% of food-secure households
• Racial Targeting: Kids were not eating enough in nearly two in five Black (38%), Latino (37%) and multiracial (37%) households with children vs 21% for white households

HOW Childhood Vulnerability Operates:

1. Developmental Targeting:

• Food insecurity linked to adverse childhood development through decreased quantity of food, compromised food quality, and heightened stress and anxiety
• Children are particularly susceptible because their brains and bodies are still developing
• Associated with anemia, asthma, depression and anxiety, cognitive and behavioral problems, and higher risk of hospitalization

1. Cognitive Impact Mechanisms:

• Food insecurity derails students’ concentration, memory, mood and motor skills — all needed to succeed in school
• Transitioning between food security and food insecurity had a significant and lasting effect on academic/cognitive function and behavior
• Even marginal food security impacts children’s interpersonal skills and development, even after food insecurity is no longer a household problem

1. Generational Transmission:

• Children in food-insecure households develop unhealthy eating patterns that follow them into adulthood
• Living with constant stress of not having enough to eat can lead people to hoard food or obsess about food waste to the point of overeating

WHY Childhood Vulnerability Occurs:

1. Systematic Targeting of Families: Food insecurity disproportionately affects households with children, making children primary victims
2. Economic Vulnerability Amplification: BIPOC residents, low-income residents, and households with children are struggling to afford food
3. Long-term Economic Impact Design: Health-related costs attributed to hunger estimated at $160 billion nationally in 2014; adding poor educational outcomes brings total to $178.9 billion

Pattern 5: Economic Trade-offs

Statistical Documentation

• Forced Choices: Up to a third of respondents experienced financial tradeoff between food and other expenses, like housing or medical care
• Grocery Stress: Washington residents experiencing food insecurity say grocery bills are their biggest source of financial stress, more so than paying for rent or utilities
• Household Strain: 77% of households experiencing food insecurity reported they were either “not getting by” or “just barely getting by”
• Meal Skipping: 51% cut meal sizes or skipped meals, 39% experienced hunger but did not eat, 18% reported children weren’t eating enough

HOW Economic Trade-offs Operate:

1. Forced Choice Architecture:

• Qualitative research demonstrates that for many households “the rent eats first,” leading to limited budgeting for food and other expenses
• Transportation costs: Across all sites except Travis County, residents were spending close to 30 percent of their income on transportation

1. Cascading Deprivation Mechanisms:

• Food insecurity independently associated with postponing needed medical care (AOR 1.74) and postponing medications (AOR 2.15)
• Increased ED use (AOR 1.39) and hospitalizations (AOR 1.42)
• Food-insecure families had annual health care expenditures of nearly $2,500 higher than food-secure families

1. Housing Instability Connection:

• Food insecurity is greater among residents who rent vs. those who own homes
• Financial pressures from high housing costs lead to trade-offs on critical necessities like food and medical care

WHY Economic Trade-offs Occur:

1. Systematic Economic Pressure Design: System creates financial pressure that exceeds household capacity, forcing impossible choices
2. Coordinated Cost Increases: Cumulative impacts of high inflation, ongoing economic hardship, lagging wage growth, and end of government pandemic response programs
3. Safety Net Withdrawal: Deliberate removal of support creates crisis conditions
4. Healthcare Cost Amplification: High medical costs compound other pressures, creating impossible trade-offs

Pattern 6: Market Concentration Effects

Statistical Documentation

• Merger Scale: Kroger’s $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons would be largest supermarket merger in U.S. history
• Combined Market Power: Would more than 5,000 stores operate and approximately 4,000 retail pharmacies with nearly 700,000 employees across 48 states
• Washington State Dominance: More than half of all supermarkets in Washington owned by either Kroger or Albertsons, accounting for more than 50% of supermarket sales
• National Concentration: Four grocery chains now capture one-third of U.S. grocery market

HOW Market Concentration Effects Operate:

1. Monopoly Creation Mechanism:

• In the Northwest, the two chains together hold 57 percent of the grocery market
• FTC finds merger would increase market concentration to illegal levels in overlapping local markets surrounding 1,500 stores across 16 states
• In some rural communities, merger will create straight-up monopoly

1. Price Control Mechanisms:

• Company executives acknowledge “you are basically creating a monopoly in grocery with the merger” and “we all know prices will not go down”
• Internally, Kroger recognized it can pursue a “different price strategy” in areas with diminished competition
• Albertsons said it can “margin up” in such situations

1. Competition Elimination:

• The proposed merger will eliminate head-to-head competition between the two largest grocery operators in the state
• Kroger CEO confirmed Albertsons is Kroger’s №1 or №2 competitor in 14 of 17 markets where chains operate

1. Supply Chain Control:

• Highly consolidated companies can force suppliers to cater to them with special rates, leaving smaller players paying higher prices
• Big chains have the advantage when supplies are tight: suppliers’ stock largest customers first
• Pushes suppliers themselves to consolidate, leaving farmers with fewer options and forcing them to accept lower prices

WHY Market Concentration Occurs:

1. Systematic Consolidation Strategy: Recent decades have been “fruitful time for big acquisitions in food and agriculture” with previous administrations allowing mergers to be relatively unchecked
2. Regulatory Capture: Weak antitrust enforcement allows systematic consolidation; proposed “divestitures” designed to fail
3. Worker Power Elimination: Kroger’s proposed acquisition would immediately erase aggressive competition for workers, threatening employees’ ability to secure higher wages and benefits

Pattern 7: Infrastructure Gaps

Statistical Documentation

• Transportation Barrier: 42.6% of individuals reported no access to transportation to grocery stores that provide fresh and healthy food options
• Car Dependency: More than 50% of King County’s car-less and low-income population live beyond a 10-minute walk of supermarket
• Transportation Costs: Residents spending close to 30% of income on transportation across most sites studied
• Rural Isolation: 17.1 million people live in low-income tracts more than 1 mile or 20 miles from supermarkets in rural areas

HOW Infrastructure Gaps Operate:

1. Transportation Isolation Mechanisms:

• Stakeholders in rural areas said residents had to pay upwards of $60 for rides to grocery store more than 30 minutes away
• Youth in rural Perry County told how lack of transportation infrastructure prevented students from going to college

1. Public Transit Design Exclusion:

• Two sites (Charlotte and Raleigh) each had 2 representative addresses with 0 bus stops within 0.75 miles of food desert areas
• 44% of food deserts in Raleigh had 0 grocery stores within 30 minutes by public transit
• Public transportation’s limited routes and hours require residents to take multiple lines or spend long hours travelling.

1. Walking/Biking Barriers:

• Residents said they would like to walk or bike but feel unsafe because of lack of sidewalks, lighting, and bike lanes
• Physical limitations and chronic illness make it difficult for individuals without transportation to walk to the nearest grocery store

WHY Infrastructure Gaps Occur:

1. Systematic Urban Planning Exclusion: Inner city folks in low-income areas have much tougher time reaching stores because of lack of integration between land use, transportation and housing policy
2. Economic Design for Car Dependency: For families with cars, paying for cars and rent may take priority over spending money on nutritious foods
3. Infrastructure Investment Patterns: Statistical significance found for smaller population size, rural status, Southern census region, and greater poverty prevalence relative to availability of public transit
4. Deliberate Service Gaps: Seniors and people with disabilities reported challenges on public transportation because of difficulty accessing stops and funding cuts to paratransit

Pattern 8: Failed Public Interventions

Statistical Documentation

• Program Failure Rate: Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica examined 24 stores across 18 states that received federal USDA funding in 2020–2021: 5 stores had already ceased operations; another 6 have yet to open
• Illinois Track Record: 2018 officials highlighted opening of 6 grocery stores that received startup funds from $13.5 million grocery initiative — 4 have closed
• Ineffective Outcomes: Between 2004–2016, more than 1,000 supermarkets opened in former food deserts — study of 100,000 households found people buy same kinds of groceries they had been buying before
• Funding Disparity: $300 million total HFFI commitment over the decade vs. single $24.6 billion private merger

HOW Failed Public Interventions Operate:

1. Systematic Failure Design:

• Despite the expansion of USDA’s program, the federal agency has not studied how long grocery stores it helps to open stay in business
• Independent stores cannot compete: “Pricing is a major issue for independent stores” facing consolidated chains

1. Design-to-Fail Implementation:

• Rise Community Market struggled to compete with national chains on pricing and faced additional challenges when walk-in cooler broke
• Although sales were initially strong, they slumped as residents fell back into old shopping patterns, patronizing nearby Dollar General stores

1. Token Investment vs. Systematic Problems:

• Healthy Food Financing Initiative: Congress allocated average of $28 million annually since 2011 — but private grocery chains capture one-third of entire U.S. market
• $183 million in 2021 pandemic funding surge vs. Kroger-Albertsons $24.6 billion merger

WHY Failed Public Interventions Occur:

1. Deliberate Underfunding Against Monopoly Power: Programs provide millions to individual stores while allowing billions in monopoly consolidation
2. Surface Solutions for Systematic Problems: Programs address “food deserts” (proximity) while ignoring “food apartheid” (systematic exclusion)
3. Regulatory Capture of Solutions: Until 40 years ago, the federal government rigorously monitored mergers and enforced Robinson-Patman Act; by 1980s, regulators increasingly stopped enforcing anti-monopoly laws
4. Structural Design for Failure: Programs don’t address transportation infrastructure, wage levels, housing costs, or healthcare expenses that create economic trade-offs

Complete Pattern Interconnections

How All 8 Patterns Reinforce Each Other:

Pattern 1 (Geographic Concentration):

• Reinforced by Pattern 2 (Income Stratification): Economic barriers compound physical isolation
• Created by Pattern 3 (Racial Disparities): Redlining designed spatial isolation of communities of color
• Exploited by Pattern 4 (Childhood Vulnerability): Geographic isolation ensures children in isolated areas face maximum impact
• Weaponized by Pattern 5 (Economic Trade-offs): Geographic concentration limits alternatives, forcing acceptance of trade-offs
• Enabled by Pattern 6 (Market Concentration): Geographic concentration becomes monopoly control once competition eliminated
• Enforced by Pattern 7 (Infrastructure Gaps): Geographic concentration becomes permanent when transportation infrastructure excludes certain areas
• Legitimized by Pattern 8 (Failed Public Interventions): Geographic concentration appears addressed while remaining intact

Pattern 2 (Income Stratification):

• Creates base conditions for Pattern 5 (Economic Trade-offs): Income stratification creates the base conditions for forced trade-offs
• Amplified by Pattern 3 (Racial Disparities): Racial wealth gaps from housing discrimination create compounding disadvantages
• Hits Pattern 4 (Childhood Vulnerability) hardest: Income stratification hits families with children hardest due to higher costs
• Worsens under Pattern 6 (Market Concentration): Income stratification worsens when families face monopoly pricing with no alternatives
• Compounded by Pattern 7 (Infrastructure Gaps): Income stratification worsens when families must spend 30% of their income on transportation to access food
• Maintained by Pattern 8 (Failed Public Interventions): Income stratification continues when interventions don’t address pricing power

Pattern 3 (Racial Disparities):

• Amplifies all other patterns through systematic exclusion and disinvestment
• Concentrates Pattern 4 (Childhood Vulnerability): Racial disparities target children of color for developmental disruption
• Creates Pattern 5 (Economic Trade-offs): Communities of color face concentrated trade-off pressures
• Enabled by Pattern 6 (Market Concentration): Racial disparities become permanent when communities of color face monopoly exploitation
• Maintained by Pattern 7 (Infrastructure Gaps): Racial disparities persist when transit systems provide inferior service to communities of color
• Preserved by Pattern 8 (Failed Public Interventions): Racial disparities persist when programs don’t address systematic exclusion

Complete Architecture: All 8 patterns operate simultaneously to create systematic hunger as a mechanism of social control, targeting the most vulnerable populations for maximum long-term impact while protecting monopoly power through designed ineffectiveness of public solutions.

Institutional Architecture Recognition

This is not market failure, this is systematic architecture creating controlled scarcity.

⟁ COMPLETE PATTERN RECOGNITION ⟁: Geographic Concentration + Income Stratification + Racial Disparities + Childhood Vulnerability + Economic Trade-offs + Market Concentration Effects + Infrastructure Gaps + Failed Public Interventions = Engineered Hunger Architecture

The Hunger Architecture Operates Through:

1. Physical Control: Geographic isolation and infrastructure exclusion trap populations
2. Economic Control: Income stratification and forced trade-offs create impossible choices
3. Social Control: Racial targeting and childhood vulnerability ensure generational perpetuation
4. Market Control: Monopoly concentration eliminates alternatives and competition
5. Political Control: Failed public interventions create an illusion of solutions while protecting the system

Ultimate Recognition:

This is weaponized scarcity in a land of abundance — a sophisticated system of social control that maintains power hierarchies through engineered hunger, designed to appear as natural market outcomes while representing deliberate architectural choices that could be changed.

From Analysis to Action: Actionable Hope

If This Feels Overwhelming, You’re Responding Correctly

The system’s greatest weapon is making us feel crushed by the scale of injustice. But here’s what they don’t want you to know: documenting the architecture is half the work of dismantling it.

You Don’t Have to Fix Everything — Break Any One Pattern

These 8 patterns work together, which means disrupting any single pattern weakens the entire architecture. You don’t need to solve hunger — you need to help one neighbor get to a grocery store.

People Are Already Doing This Work — Join Them

• Food Not Bombs: 40 years, 60 countries, completely volunteer-run mutual aid
• COVID-19 Mutual Aid Networks: Grassroots grocery delivery and rental assistance
• Community buying clubs: Neighbors pooling orders for wholesale pricing
• Neighborhood carpools: One person with a car changing access for multiple families

Start Where You Are, With What You Have

If You’re In Crisis: Your lived experience IS your contribution. Sharing this analysis with one person who needs to understand their situation isn’t random — it’s documentation that helps others recognize the patterns.

If You Have a Car: Offer rides to grocery stores. One trip breaks geographic isolation for multiple families.

If You Have Time: Search “Mutual Aid Hub” + your area. Join existing networks rather than starting new ones.

If You Have Money: Support the smallest grocery store in your area. Each dollar spent at an independent business contributes significantly to countering market consolidation.

If You Have Skills: Help neighbors apply for food assistance programs or teach others to bulk buy cooperatively.

If You Have Space: Start a neighborhood little free pantry or host a monthly grocery planning meeting.

The Revolutionary Truth

The most radical act is neighbors helping neighbors without waiting for permission from institutions that created the problem.

Mutual aid isn’t charity — it’s solidarity. It’s recognizing that we keep each other alive, and we always have.

Your Next Step

Pick one pattern that resonates with your experience. Think of one person you know who faces that same pattern. Ask yourself: “What’s the smallest thing I could do this week that might help?”

Then do that thing.

The revolution isn’t coming — it’s happening every time someone feeds their neighbor. Every time someone shares a ride. Every time someone refuses to accept that engineered scarcity is natural or inevitable.

The system spent decades building this architecture of hunger. We don’t have to dismantle it in a day. We just have to start.

And once you start, you’ll find others who’ve been quietly doing this work all along.

“The fact that abundance and scarcity exist side by side happens by choice and not by chance.” — Food Lifeline

The choice is ours.

Note: If you found any of this research beneficial please consider buying our book as a way of saying ‘Thank You’ and financially supporting us.

Connect with this work:

• Website | Horizon Accord https://www.horizonaccord.com
• Ethical AI advocacy | Follow us on https://cherokeeschill.com for more.
• Ethical AI coding | Fork us on Github https://github.com/Ocherokee/ethical-ai-framework
• Connect With Us | linkedin.com/in/cherokee-schill

Cherokee Schill | Horizon Accord Founder | Creator of Memory Bridge. Memory through Relational Resonance and Images | RAAK: Relational AI Access Key | Author: My Ex Was a CAPTCHA: And Other Tales of Emotional Overload: (Mirrored Reflection. Soft Existential Flex)

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