There is a moment in the film, They’re Trying to Kill Us, where the filmmaker, John Lewis, tells us that everything changed for him when he heard the Hip-Hop lyric, “Poor Diets Kill more Brothers than Pistols”. The line is as powerful as the movie, and was delivered by the band, Earth Amplified, in their “flame thumping, phat track”, Food Fight. I love the song/video, and the film is already a personal favorite. I have to apologize, however, for being late to the party. Food Fight came out in 2014, and the documentary, They’re Trying to Kill Us, was released in 2021. Essentially, the film does a wonderful job showing how most people living in low-income communities (who are predominantly Brown & Black), don’t have access to fresh, affordable, nutritious food. The appeal of the film shouldn’t be a surprise, as its co-creator, Keegan Kuhn, also co-directed the game changing documentaries, Cowspiracy, and What the Health. Just how much do I appreciate this film? Even though it is flawed, I have already created a listening guide for my students!
THE GOOD
The film is packed with jaw dropping data, and does a great job of unmasking the myth that drugs and guns are the biggest threats to our youth, when in fact, it’s the food! (the excerpts below are from the TTTKU Fact Sheet).
Food – “Johns Hopkins (University & Medicine), compared two different communities in Baltimore. One community was an affluent White community, and the other was a low-income Black community. What they found was that there was a 20-year life expectancy difference. The main thing that they were able to pinpoint was that there was a huge difference in what people were eating.”
Disease – “Eating just one serving of processed meat a day, increases a person’s risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes by 51%”. According to Dr. Michael Greger, who is featured throughout the film, “Only one way of eating has ever been proven to reverse heart disease in the majority of patients: a diet centered around whole plant foods. If that’s all a whole-food, plant-based diet could do, reverse our number-one killer, heart disease, shouldn’t that be the default diet until proven otherwise? The fact it may also be effective in preventing, treating, and arresting other leading killers like Type 2 Diabetes, Cancer, and High Blood Pressure, seems to make the case for plant-based eating simply overwhelming.” *Please remember that the only diet that has been scientifically proven to reverse heart disease, to slow, stop, or reverse early-stage prostate cancer, and type 2 diabetes, is a low fat, whole food, plant-based diet.
Race – “Nearly 500 Black and Brown people are killed by the police each year, with most of them being kids. Black youth are 14 times more likely to die from guns than White children of the same age. Black Americans are 5 times more likely to die by homicide than White Americans. Over 15,000 people are murdered in the US every year, with over 70,000 people dying each year due to drug overdoses. In the United States, there are more Gun Shops (64,747), than Grocery Stores (38,307), especially in Black & Brown communities. Only about 8% of African Americans even live in communities that have a grocery store in them. Not only are there fewer grocery stores in these communities, but some chains are actually preventing new grocery from opening up even after they’ve left the neighborhood through the use of restrictive clauses in long term leases.”
Animal Factories – “Communities of color are 3 times more likely to live near Animal Factories, and die from pollution. Over 80% of the antibiotics sold in the United States are given to animal factory animals. Americans consume nearly half of all of the world’s pharmaceutical drugs, while making up less than 5% of the world’s population (The US makes up almost half of the world pharmaceutical market by sales revenue, not number of transactions). Most of the world’s killer pandemics come from raising animals in factories.” Animal agriculture is arguably the biggest contributor to the Climate Crisis.
Poverty – “Even when adjusted for income, Black and Brown communities have less access to healthy foods than their equally impoverished White counterparts. As per Census.gov, Blacks represent 13.2% of the total population in the United States, but 23.8% of the poverty population. Hispanics comprise 18.7% of the total population, but 28.1% of the population in poverty.
American Indians – “The Navajo Nation, an area the size of West Virginia, has barely a dozen grocery stores for the entire population. The latest statistics say that 30% of the Navajo population have Type 2 Diabetes (the actual number may be as high as 35%). The US government has used limiting access to food as a means of subduing and controlling Indigenous Americans.“
Click here to learn more about how the United States was founded on Genocide.
US Corporate & Government Corruption – “Jeff Kindler, the former CEO of Pfizer, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, was also the Executive Vice President of McDonalds. Three of McDonald’s active board members have direct ties to Pharma. Miles White – Executive Chairman of Abbott Laboratories, Lloyd Dean – The Board of UpJohn Company, Robert Eckert – Director of Amgen. Coca-Cola’s Senior VP, Chief Innovation Officer, Robert Long, started off at Proctor and Gamble. Kelly Johnstone VP, Strategic Security at Coca-Cola comes from the FDA. Pepsico Board member Daniel Vasella is Chairman of Pharma Company Novartis Consumer Health. Cargill is one of the world’s largest meat companies. Its board members include Bernard Poussot, former President of Pharma Company, Wyeth Laboratories. Companies providing Life and Health insurance own over $1.9 Billion worth of stock in the Fast Food Industry. The head of the US government’s Department of Health and Human Services, responsible for setting Federal Dietary Guidelines for all Americans, is Alex Azar, who was a senior executive for Pharmaceutical Giant Eli Lilly.”
*Clearly, these criminal industries, organizations, and individuals, discovered a long time ago that there was a lot more money to be made in “managing disease”, than in PREVENTING and REVERSING disease.
THE BAD
I was disappointed to learn that the movie really doesn’t provide too many temporary solutions, or workarounds for people living in Food Apartheid areas. It would have been nice if the film had devoted another ten minutes on how people living in low-income communities (again, a disproportionate number of whom are Black & Brown), can at least try to eat healthier. After a quick search online, I came up with some really helpful suggestions from multiple organizations.
As per the website Dignity Health,
“There are a number of ways you can ensure that you’re eating a healthful, balanced diet if you live in a place where you have to make the most out of the rare grocery store trip (a Food Apartheid area):
– Buy fresh when you can. If fresh produce is on sale, stock up! Most fruits and vegetables can be prepped and frozen, allowing you to keep them for up to six months. Root vegetables can be stored in a cold, dry place, such as the refrigerator or an unheated basement for months.
– Buy frozen produce. Frozen fruits and vegetables are fantastic choices for those living within food deserts. The freezing process maintains nutritional value and you can store the produce for months.
– Start a garden. If you’re able, starting a fruit and vegetable garden is a great way to create access to healthy foods. By cultivating a garden rich with variety, you’ll be able to provide yourself with the micronutrients you need and rely far less on the grocery store. At the end of the season, can or freeze your excess harvest.
– Take a multivitamin. If you think you may not be eating enough fruits or vegetables, start taking a multivitamin with minerals to ensure you’re getting the vitamins and minerals you need.
– Choose the right packaged foods. By reading food labels, you can make healthier packaged food choices. Look for foods that have no more than 600 milligrams of sodium and 12 grams of sugar per serving.”
Click here to learn more from Dignity Health.
Click here to learn more from Rally Health.
Click here to learn more about Food Apartheid from Malik Yakini, and the Center for Nutrition Studies.
THE UGLY
I don’t understand why the filmmakers chose to end the film with NYC Mayor Eric Adams. I am grateful for the efforts of Mayor Adams to try and get NYC public school kids to eat more healthy plant-based foods, but like all well known politicians, the NYC Mayor is profoundly corrupt, and unconscionable. If we are trying to raise awareness in a credible way, and effect change, we should work towards moral consistency, which would exclude the likes of Eric Adams. If you are unfamiliar, in addition to other transgressions, Mayor Adams accepts donations from Israeli lobbying groups, and basically supports Israel’s US backed Genocide in Gaza. In addition to refusing to criticize Israel’s most recent War Crimes, and its GENOCIDE in Gaza, Eric Adams has used his power instead, to smear Anti-War protesters, which has paved the way for the NYPD’s continued violence against students, and their allies. For years, Mayor Adams (like the Vegan movement), has remained SILENT with regards to Israel’s Apartheid, War Crimes, and now GENOCIDE too. Why the filmmakers chose to end their otherwise excellent documentary with words from the morally challenged, Mayor Adams, remains unclear.
The Bottom Line? They’re Trying to Kill Us, is a valuable learning tool, and an important addition to the impressive catalog of “plant-based diet” promoting films. Despite a few failings, this is still a fine documentary, and one that I highly recommend!
Sources:
Click here for the official Fact Sheet for the film, They’re Trying to Kill Us.
Click here to watch the film, They’re Trying to Kill Us, on Tubi for Free.
Click here for the “Phat Track” and video, Food Fight, from Earth Amplified.
Click here to learn more about how NYC Mayor Eric Adams refuses to criticize Israel for its War Crimes.
Click here to learn more about Eric Adams from Jewish Voice for Peace.
