Closing Forum: Professor Louie’s Poem
posted by brooklynfoodconference, on May 12, 2009“We’ve all learned a huge amount today,” said Nancy Romer at the Closing Forum. “We’ve learned about the food system, about our health, about environmental sustainability, about social justice in the food system. We’ve used a lot of words and we’ve exchanged a lot of ideas, but Professor Louie and Fast Eddie are going to bring it all together into one brilliant rap.” And so the woman who brought all of us together introduced “Brooklyn’s poets of the streets.” (Fast Eddy accompanied on drums.)
You are what you eat we know that’s true
What else is new? You are what you do
And what’s this whole world coming to?
The weight falls on me & you.
Everybody eats that’s a natural fact skinny or fat that’s where it’s at meet & eat on the street or behind your back so me & momma went to buy some food we wanted something good in the neighborhood we rolled & strolled to the supermarket took the shopping cart & parked it bananas from Costa Rica 99¢ a pound apples from New Zealand big & round weighing in at $2.50 a pound that’s 80¢ an apple how does that sound the whole store full of boxes & cans jars jellies & jams from a hundred different lands food with monosodium glutamate calcium proprionate di-ethyl-methyl benzoate I would hate to see the shii…stuff on my plate prices high as the sky it’s not so funny I stopped dead like Fred & said to my honey who is making all this money it makes you want to holler but when you get to the dollar here’s the situation you’re talking giant multinational agricultural corporations Del Monte Unilever & Cargill Archer Daniels Midland & General Mills Kellogg’s Kraft & Nestle RJ Reynolds ConAgra & Pillsbury they sell all the food in the supermarket they take all the money dude from out of your pocket they throw chemical pesticides down in the dirt and chemical fertilizers that poison the earth they let the poison seep down deep to the water then they sell you bottled water for a buck & a quarter they plant the same crop till you drop over & over on the same farm you call that monoculture out in the barn it erodes & corrodes the farmland & destroys the nutrients when the food hits your plate they sell you the condiments then they abandon the land forget the sentiments they ship the food planes boats & trucks millions & billions of gallons of oil you know that sucks they use abuse & steal humongous amounts of water lead billions of animals right to the slaughter & to make the chemicals they put in the soil again you’re foiled makes your little blood boil cause to make these fertilizers they use a whole lot of oil & it all doesn’t just only destroy the land it poisons farm workers through their breath & through their hands & there’s hundreds of millions of farm workers in this world for sure food packers food processors hundreds millions more millions of food workers at the restaurant or store the big number you’re waiting for one billion people across this world man & woman boy & girl one out of six people on earth work with food & check it out when you’re in the mood you might wonder where all the money is made cause these food jobs are the lowest paid look all around the world look up & down the street people who bring us food can’t afford to eat and they take in the poison in the field & at the plant & we all eat the poison your mom pop your uncle & aunt so we all lost we pay the cost of eating bad food we pay the doctor the hospital & for your bad attitude cavities pressure diabetes & cancer bad air bad water bad food is the answer brought by Del Monte Unilever & Cargill Archer Daniels Midland & General Mills Kellogg’s Kraft & Nestle RJ Reynolds ConAgra & Pillsbury
Cause
You are what you eat we know that’s true
What else is new? You are what you do
And what’s this whole world coming to?
The weight falls on me & you
Cause it’s corporate agriculture that grows the grain & what they do with it will bring you pain & maybe shame or a little blame cause they don’t feed grain to people they feed it to cows to make all the money the system allows throw the cows in the feedlot stuff them up with grain shoot them up with medication let them suffer in pain & the shame of it all just so we can eat meat & lay the blame for your health problems on the meat you eat & the grain that goes to feed one cow could feed twenty people in the world right now & all the cows make tons of methane & methane got a claim to fame it makes as much global warming as anything you can name so forget your double whopper in the fast food lane it’s healthy & more efficient to eat a little more grain but corporations just think efficiencies of money & when they pay off the government it’s not too funny cause when the money is lent the message is sent the rules are bent & we get bad food policy from the government cause these giant chemical industrial agricultural corporations they get subsidies & tax cuts across the nation subsidies for the grain they feed to cows all the tax breaks the law allows for corn syrup corn sweetener stuff that harms us & no help at all for the family farmers & these companies get so much of our money they hop scotch around the world like the Easter Bunny & they go on & do something really crummy they undersell farmers all around the world till that farmer can’t feed his own little boy & girl & immigration you understand is when people can’t survive on their own land they knock the farmer off the farm throw him up on the shelf now they got the customers all to themselves & the Monsanto company patents the seeds so farmers everywhere can’t get what they need & the greed of these corporations really got no limit their only question: Is there money in it? It’s bad & sad to think on the actual facts that any human being would commit such acts to poison all the bees just to get the honey to poison the whole world just to get the money but we don’t sing this song just to say it’s wrong it’s about what’s going to happen before too long cause it’s not just about you getting good food to eat you might buy organic & get that healthy treat but sooner or later it’s going to bring you pain cause corporate agriculture can’t be sustained you can’t poison the water & poison the air you can’t poison the earth and still live here it’s a sure-enough sure thing there’s nothing probable just like some germs are not containable corporate agriculture is not sustainable you can drift & shift the facts but you just can’t fake it our mother the earth just can’t take it
Cause
You are what you eat we know that’s true
What else is new? You are what you do
And what’s this whole world coming to?
The weight falls of me & you
Now from us being real stupid way back in the day now we can say we have come a long long way now we know that there’s enough land we also understand there’s enough food for every woman & man so we got more people getting vocal we got more people buying local you take your shopping cart & really park it go down to your local farmers’ market talk to the farmer get to know him if you can find out what he puts into his land if he’s doing it right shine your little light try & support him with all your might if you took a look around Brooklyn day after day more people are buying from CSA that’s Community-Supported Agriculture fast or slow that’s when you buy from a farmer you know eaters talking to farmers farmers talking to eaters it even happens with the world beaters Fair Trade food & Equal Exchange help you keep your rights & wrongs arranged & when food-aid organizations bring relief to people who come to grief let them buy from local farmers where’s the beef let the tree & the branches feed the leaf & before Mother Nature shuts the door we got to do more to learn from native people about the earth indigenous people who know the birth & rebirth & what it’s all worth we need farmers’ cooperatives out in the farmland community gardens for Brooklyn to get dirt on our hands food co-ops for every woman & man teach kids in school what it’s all for teach them that food doesn’t grow in the store we need farm workers to get a better deal & know you all don’t want blood on your meal cause what you eat is different from what you did your could eat organic & act like a pig & there might be a little guy down the end of the bench overalls & a monkey wrench eating candy & pork chops & acts like a mensch drinking soda eating Eskimo Pie but when you really need him he’s a decent stand-up guy so don’t get holy about what you eat let me repeat check out your actions up & down the street cause when we talk about food we talk about life & bringing this world through the day & night across this world across all the nations we need to keep the earth for the coming generations & I hope we all remember when we go to sleep this whole world has a rhythm way down deep that ancient heartbeat that we got to keep so our children’s children’s children get a chance to meet so we’re here for that big revival meeting down at the building we’re here to leave a healthy world for the children & when you tuck them in & kiss them goodnight I wish you & yours a health appetite & wherever you come from whatever your neighborhood I wish you good luck & I wish you good food
Cause
We are what we eat we know that’s true
What else is new? We are what we do
And what’s this whole world coming to?
The weight falls on me & you.
About Professor Louie
Professor Louie is a spoken-word performer/political rapper who’s been putting out underground albums in New York since 1985. Along with percussionist Fast Eddie, Professor Louie has been entertaining and enlightening audiences for decades. Called a genius by Pete Seeger on many occasions, the phenomenon known as Professor Louie grew out of the 1960’s radical theater group The Pageant Players and evolved via guerrilla solo performances in the streets and parks of New York City in the early 80’s. Eschewing the music industry entirely, Professor Louie releases albums on the completely independent FREE BROOKLYN NOW imprint. Records are available at FREE BROOKLYN NOW, 399 14th Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11215.
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