Chapter Six
CESAR
The Grapes Of Wrath
[ a song, traditional folk ]
Un-carded Latino men stand for hours down on the corner *
Waiting for work outside by the local liquor store
The homeless war vet throws his crutch in utter frustration
Crying "Lord I just can't take this shit no more!"
The independent trucker looking on shakes his weary head
He has his own problems with fuel prices and corporate axes
It's seven days on the road, above legal weight and speed
Trying to survive while they lower wages and raise his taxes
The grapes of wrath are poisoned with chemical pollution
They're rotting on the dry American vine
The homeless man and deportee field hand
Are in the county hole doing illegal time
All hail the American corrupt congressional Caesar
Benedict Arnold in the people's capitol tower
We render unto you more than seven times what you're due
And you betray us with your corporate lobby dower
From Oklahoma dust, family farms and inner city wastelands
Harvest song from a distant shore of Galilee
The grapes of wrath of we the people are fermenting
In untamed hearts from sea to once shining sea
Tired farmers toil before dawn until late at night
While prices rise, profits fall and family farms are lent
And the president of the state's blind education board
Cries "more taxes" while raising his salary thirty-five percent
Now they tax our seniors for drawing a well-earned pension
Triple our tax at the county, state and local levels
Tax our homes, our land and whenever we buy or sell
And rebate the rich while bowing low to corporate devils
The grapes of wrath are poisoned with chemical pollution
They're rotting on the dry American vine
The homeless man and deportee field hand
Are in the county hole doing illegal time
All hail the American corrupt congressional Caesar
Benedict Arnold in the people's capitol tower
We render unto you more than seven times what you're due
And you betray us with your corporate lobby dower
From Oklahoma dust, family farms and inner city wastelands
Harvest song from a distant shore of Galilee
The grapes of wrath of we the people are fermenting
In untamed hearts from sea to once shining sea
You sit in fancy oak pews, hold anti-abortion rallies
While human rights and liberties are trampled under
You collect your stained glass tallies while the poor sleep in your alleys
Just who the hell you're following causes all to stop and wonder
Once home of the brave and land of the free
America, 'tis of thee with one heart we sing
For Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Kennedy
We cry "Cesar Chavez!" and "Martin Luther King!"
The grapes of wrath are poisoned with chemical pollution
They're rotting on the dry American vine
The homeless man and deportee field hand
Are in the county hole doing illegal time
All hail the American corrupt congressional Caesar
Benedict Arnold in the people's capitol tower
We render unto you more than seven times what you're due
And you betray us with your corporate lobby dower
From Oklahoma dust, family farms and inner city wastelands
Harvest song from a distant shore of Galilee
The grapes of wrath of we the people are fermenting
In untamed hearts from sea to once shining sea **
United Farm
Workers
DEDICATED TO: Dolores C.
Huerta,
longtime dedicated Civil Rights activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America,
AFL-CIO ("UFW"). Also dedicated to American activist, singer and songwriter
Joan Baez; friend of Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King,
Jr.
and Human Rights.
*FootNote: Several American cities including Malibu, California, enforce unconstitutional
local ordinances forbidding day laborers from standing on the corner to solicit
employment. Some of the same and other cities routinely round up the homeless, jail them
for a day or two and then dump them off in some other city, believing it reflects poorly on
tourism and other merchant enterprises. Individuals who support these types of laws
should be forced to experience homelessness for an extended period of time themselves and city
council and other lawmakers who approve this type of legislation should be locked up for a very
long time. A society as wealthy as the modern-day United States that ignores the sick and
poor is truly risking the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah and without doubt, a civilization borders
on insanity when it punishes people attempting to legitimately work for wages. Would we
who control and hoard the wealth prefer that the poor rob stores and banks instead of standing
on the corner in an effort to feed their hungry families in an honest fashion? (See also Fleeing Sodom: The Lost
Art of the True Patriot for more information.)
**FootNote II: Inspired by the late Cesar Chavez, a life dedicated to the great cause of
Human and Civil Rights---of social justice, equality and freedom, The Grapes Of Wrath by
John Steinbeck, perhaps America's greatest novel and The Wasteland by T.S.
Eliot. Along with the life of Cesar Chavez and The Wasteland, The Grapes of
Wrath, which is far from fiction, should today be required reading in order to receive a
high school diploma (as it once was in some American schools).
NOTE ADDED 11/06/03: In San Francisco, California recently, a candidate for city
mayor received the largest percentage of votes (leading to a future runoff election) whose major
plank of a misguided misanthropic platform was to come down hard on the city’s homeless
population. Candidates such as this and the business leaders and other voters who support
them do not have a clue as to Who is ultimately in control of who eats and who does not eat,
who has a peaceful existence and who does not.
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