KNOXVILLE - On November 25, a community member submitted a letter to the Knoxville City Council and Mayor Kincannon concerning the food crisis in Knoxville's African-American communities:

Good evening, City Council Members and City Mayor:

On November 11, 2025, this City Council unanimously approved allocating $100,000 from the City’s Unassigned Fund Balance to address critical food shortages caused by delays in SNAP benefits due to the government shutdown. United Way of Greater Knoxville matched that amount, bringing the total to $200,000 in emergency funding—distributed within days to nine local organizations. Your response was swift. Your response was urgent. You are commended for taking immediate action to address a temporary federal delay as the crisis it was.

Now let me direct your attention to another food crisis—one that isn’t temporary. One that doesn’t come from a government shutdown. One that has existed for years. 43% of African-Americans in Knoxville live at or below the poverty line. That Means 43% of Black people in this city struggle every single day with putting food on the table. That means 43% are making distressing decisions—food or rent; food or utilities; food or medicine. These devastating decisions aren’t due to a federal delay, but because of systemic economic inequities that this Council has the power and obligation to address. Census Tracts 67 and 68 in East Knoxville historically Black neighborhoods report median household incomes of approximately $35K and $15K respectively. Yet according to 2024 HUD data, this City calculates “affordable housing” using the Knoxville Metro Area Median Income which is $91,000 for a family of four. That’s not affordable housing. That’s economic displacement by policy. These families face the same food insecurity you had responded to on November 11, 2025. What’s the difference? The food crisis for African-Americans did not start with a government shutdown and it didn’t end when the federal government re-opened two days after your decision to commit $100,000 to the United Way of Greater Knoxville. SNAP benefits have resumed. The food crisis in the Black community is chronic. Our crisis is systemic, and our crisis has been ignored.

YOUR LEGAL OBLIGATIONS ARE CLEAR: Tennessee Code Annotated subsection 6-56- 201 requires you to adopt a budget that serves this entire city. The 14th Amendment commands “No State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” This isn’t a suggestion. It’s the supreme law of this land. Why does a temporary delay warrant emergency action, but 43% Black poverty does not?

My demands: 1) Declare Black poverty the emergency it is. 43% poverty demands the same urgency you gave a temporary federal delay; 2) Recalculate Affordable Housing using actual neighborhood median incomes—not $91K based on Knox County Metro area data. Use $15K to $35K which is the reality of East Knoxville; 3) Use your platform and influence to pressure the Tennessee State Legislature to repeal Tennessee Code Annotated subsection 50-2-112, which strips cities of the authority to require living wages. Advocate publicly for state legislation that allows Knoxville to address wage suppression by corporations operating in our city. Pass a resolution demanding this authority be returned to local governments.

In closing, you all have a legal obligation to the people of this city and to the law itself. Tennessee Code Annotated Section 6-56-201 imposes a statutory duty. The 14th Amendment imposes a constitutional duty. These are binding legal requirements. Every meeting where you sit in silence while I document these violations-that is evidence. Every budget cycle where you fail to address these disparities—that’s evidence. Every emergency you respond to while ignoring 43% Black poverty –that’s evidence. This public forum documents your continued malfeasance. It documents that you were properly notified by a citizen on behalf of the public. It documents that you had the legal authority and obligation to act. And it documents that you chose to do nothing. The law doesn’t forget; the U.S. Constitution does not expire. And this record is time stamped.

Submitted to Knoxville City Council & City Mayor by Crystal Flack--November 25, 2025