Do we still have hope and dreams for Iowa nice? Let’s keep dreaming of neighbors who care.

Jimmy Carter said, “If you don’t want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying you want a country based on Christian values, because you don’t.”

Can we apply this to Iowa? If you don’t want to feed kids, then stop thinking of yourselves as Iowa nice.

What has happened to Iowa nice?

What has happened to Iowans caring about neighbors?

Let’s take a deep breath and think about being nice.

My concern and rant started when Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Iowa would not be taking money for the child summer nutrition program. We said no to over $20 million of federal summertime food assistance. We said no to feeding 240,000 Iowa children who would qualify. USDA data shows that 1 in every 11 Iowa children face hunger. The $40 a month per child can be the difference between a hungry kid and a nourished one.

The reason Reynolds gave for saying no was “An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.”

If we are concerned about obesity, let’s find ways to raise the taxes on junk food. Let’s find ways to help farmers raise food that feeds Iowans instead of ranting about supporting corn for ethanol. Iowans import 90% of their food. A typical carrot travels 1,800 miles to reach your dinner table. Iowans eat 25.9 million pounds of carrots each year and only 5% are grown in Iowa.  Let’s have the governor start to give out carrot and other vegetable seeds and make sure there are community gardens for planting them. Let’s start pushing for farm subsidies that support food agriculture.

I wasn’t done ranting about Reynolds’ condescending approach to hungry kids when the caucuses happened. Iowans came out to support Donald Trump.

Why would nice people support someone who is trying to divide us? Why would nice people support someone who brags about misogynistic deeds? Why would nice people not see racism as he talks about “immigrants poisoning the blood of our country”?

According to AP VoteCast, around 4 in 10 Republican caucusgoers chose immigration as the most important issue facing us. Nearly three-quarters say immigrants are a negative for the country. “About 9 in 10 in the survey back building a wall along that border.” We seem to have forgotten most of us are descendants of immigrants.

Iowa used to be welcoming. We liked to brag about Robert Ray welcoming the Tai Dam in 1975. Later Ray welcomed the boat people. He had a heart. “I learned what was happening and it was just tragic,” Ray recalled. “These frail little boats with people trying to save their lives and get away were breaking apart and people were dying. … And once again, I thought, ‘We’ve got to do something to help that situation.’”  

I recently found out our state representatives passed a resolution in support of Israel’s military action. Do Iowans care about the hungry and dead children of Gaza?

I was ready to give up hope, but I was reminded of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1967 Christmas sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church. King said, “If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on despite it all. And so today I still have a dream.”

Do we still have hope and dreams for Iowa nice? Let’s keep dreaming of neighbors who care.

Now let’s all splurge on some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. They are the first company to publicly call for a cease-fire in Gaza.

As we eat ice cream (those of us who can afford it) let’s think of ways we can redefine and reinstitute Iowa nice.

Jane Yoder-Short lives in Kalona.