‘they’re trying to kill us’: the links between racism, diet and disease

A pandemic, brutal police violence captured on camera, and rebellion by people who are fed up with the way things are. We live in a time when we’re forced to reevaluate everything in our society; a time when we’re collectively facing the truth that anti-Blackness informs so much of the status quo from the way law is enforced to the way healthcare is administered.

Activist filmmakers John Lewis and Keegan Kuhn know about the connections between racism, profiteering, food deserts, illness, and the pharmaceutical industry and they’re bringing them to light with their upcoming documentary, They’re Trying To Kill Us.

The film’s focus is on food access and health as social justice issues examined through the lens of hip-hop. For the film, they spoke with a wide range of artists, activists, medical professionals, and politicians including Ne-Yo, Queen Afua, Raury, Sa-Roc, Angela Yee, Kimberly Elise, Mya, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. More than just talking heads, the speakers help to uncover the collusion between industries that keep Black people sick and dependent on pharmaceuticals as treatment.

“If you’re not hungry for justice it’s because you’re full of privilege,” says co-director  and narrator John Lewis, a Ferguson, Mo. native who has made promoting healthy eating habits in the Black community his personal brand as “Bad Ass Vegan”

Watch the official trailer for this eye-opening film below and be on the lookout for the film’s official release later this year.

They’re Trying To Kill Us