by Kemet Mawakana, a.k.a. the Seven Foot Poet
In these historic and unprecedented times, questions of great importance loom before us. Latte or mocha? Chili dogs or sauerkraut? Leather or cloth interior? Our choices, the learned and knowledgeable tell us, do matter. No, really, they do! The Seven Foot Poet agrees. Mostly.
THE GREAT DEBATE – Are Hot Dogs Good for Black People?
[In Harlem Baltimore all over the U.S. Jamica Brazil Africa on TV Radio Internet -- the “great” debate is raging – Are Hot Dogs Good for Black People?]
Click the flash player below to hear this original work performed by the Seven Foot Poet
{mp3}poetry/20081231_7ft_great_debate{/mp3}
Black People are starving or eating S.A.D. food
Double cheesburgers pork chop sandwiches
Cheesecake Factory Chinese carryouts
And all types of wackery
Hot Dogs are better than those choices
Without a doubt better than all of the above
You’re just mad and hatin cause you a lonely vegetarian
Considering the options I say take the hot dog love!
After all these years of fighting and struggling
We’ve made progress
From slop to chitlins to fast food to dollar menus
And now finally the promise land
Hot Dogs! Hot Diggity Doggs! Hot Damn!
We’re proud now can hold our head up high
The symbolism is powerful the great imagery
Finally no more pictures of starving Africans with swollen bellies
Just photogenic smiling beautiful black people
With Hot Dogs and straight white teeth
We must make the most of this great opportunity
Like we have done historically
They gave up leftover scraps
And we made it into a delicacy -- pigs feet
Indeed this is the dawning of a new day in the cosmos
From the age of pieces to the age of the half smoke
Did you see the signs: Atomic Dog, Snoop Dogg, DMX
We should have known the new era of the Hot Dog would be next
If nothing else the Hot Dog will bring us all together at the dinner table
It pisses off white supremacists
First they let us play baseball then let us drive Chevrolets
Then they let us eat apple pie and now this
We da bomb
Cause we can now eat the quintessential American icon
Hot dog! Hot diggity dogs! Hot Damn!
This is a history making time
No we’ve finally got food
The youth and elderly are filled with hope
This is change we’ve got to celebrate
Greet each other and say:
Hot dog! Hot diggity dogs! Hot Damn!
[crowd goes wild with exuberance and applause]
Listen to what’s been said
They “let you” eat this “let you” eat that “let you” eat hot dogs
Because you’re an American.
A cat can have kittens in the oven
That doesn’t make them hot dog eaters or Americans my friends
And if anyone else has to decide whether or not to let you eat
Well your in bad shape it’s not reason to celebrate.
This is not the first time we’ve been allowed to eat their foods.
We’ve eaten at their lunch counters
Their McDonalds and cafeteria’s in schools.
The resulting health consequences due to their diet have been cruel.
What evidence has been presented that this will be different – none.
Do we control
The raw materials of the hot dog – No
The manufacture of the hot dog – No
The distribution of the hot dog – No
The retail outlets for the hot dog – No
So don’t talk about holding the hot dog industry accountable
The market for buns is controlled by others
The market for ketchup and mustard are controlled by others
You can’t even sell the sauerkraut chili and cheese
Yet you feel good are excited and happy
I can only imagine what’s next
You’ll be happy if they let you become warden
And run the Prison Industrial Complex
Eating hot dogs while locking up your brother and sisters
Eating hot dogs while creating and implementing
Policies that kill Africans world wide
Do I have to confuse you with truth and accurate facts
Note that hot dogs are carcinogenic
Just stop think and listen
Do you even know what hot dogs are made of
Or do you just want without any prophylactic
To get your hot dog love?
They give you Hebrew National and Oscar Meyer
And you consume them like gasoline for the miseducation fire.
The same miseducation fire which has destroyed your framework
For determining good and bad
Thus the masses of us are set up to be had
A drowing person
Will grasp at razor blades scissors and other fatally sharp things
And a starving person
Will eat hot dogs and hot sausage links with onion extra chili and cheese
Not God Bless Hot Dogs – but God Damn Hot Dogs!
This ain’t a great debate it shouldn’t even be a question
Hot Dogs may sustain us temporarily
But they will never
Restore us to full health or allow us to be all we can be.
[crowd goes wild with exuberance and applause]
By Kemit Mawakana (aka The Seven-Foot Poet)
Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)
Copyright 2008.
Kemit Mawakana (aka “The Seven-Foot Poet”) is a highly acclaimed spoken-word artist, and has published two books A . . . Z . . . Infinity and Crucifixion of My Soul. The collective body of his works presented in www.blackagendareport.com and www.voxunion.com are in tribute to Listervelt Middleton, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, and “For The People”. Currently, he is a facilitator at AYA Educational Institute (www.ayaed.com) in Atlanta, Georgia and can be reached at sevenfootpoet@gmail.com.
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