There is one poem by him that gave me and my ‘mixed race’ brothers and sisters a lot of satisfaction.
We were introduced to it in school and the poem has stuck in my head all these years..
…
Enjoy!
Half Caste
By John Agard
Excuse me standing on one leg I’m half-caste.
Explain yuself wha yu mean when yu say half-caste yu mean when Picasso mix red an green is a half-caste canvas? explain yuself wha yu mean when yu say half-caste yu mean when light an shadow mix in de sky is a half-caste weather? well in dat case england weather nearly always half-caste in fact some o dem cloud half-caste till dem overcast so spiteful dem don’t want de sun pass ah rass? explain yuself wha yu mean when yu say half-caste yu mean tchaikovsky sit down at dah piano an mix a black key wid a white key is a half-caste symphony?
Explain yuself wha yu mean Ah listening to yu wid de keen half of mih ear Ah looking at yu wid de keen half of mih eye an when I’m introduced to yu I’m sure you’ll understand why I offer yu half-a-hand an when I sleep at night I close half-a-eye consequently when I dream I dream half-a-dream an when moon begin to glow I half-caste human being cast half-a-shadow but yu must come back tomorrow wid de whole of yu eye an de whole of yu ear an de whole of yu mind.
Yesterday the legendary “Gil Scott-Heron” passed away.
All day long I’ve had that famous title stuck in my head- ”The revolution will not be televised”.
and I’ve been thinking about the meaning of those words…
You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.
There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.
Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.
There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be right back after a message
About a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, the tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution WILL put you in the driver's seat.
The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.
Poetry and art, by its very nature is open to interpretation. Thats the beauty of it. But I’ve heard alot of people say today that the revolution has been televised already… they seem to be missing the point..
As he explains in the below clip- the real revolution begins in the mind….
I can personally hear two stories taking place here…. (its a very clever poem!!)
On one hand he is talking about African American people and how their story will not be televised. He seems to be making the point that TV is for white people for white people, that it won’t show the revolution of black people and it won’t tell their story.
“There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers in the instant replay”
“The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb, Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth”
But I think also what Gil Scott Heron means is, that when the real revolution happens we will have stopped believing in all the bullsh*t that is fed to us through the media. Part of the revolution is to stop believing in all the media hype! The real revolution is when we realise that there is real life to live.
It won’t be on TV, ‘because black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day”, and because “the revolution will be live”.
He references adverts and how they make us feel inadequate, how fear is used as a tool to make us buy, to keep people oppressed..
“You will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroom, the tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl. The revolution will not go better with Coke. The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath. The revolution WILL put you in the driver’s seat.”
Its exactly as he puts it, “the revolution WILL put you in the driver’s seat”.
Finally people will have the knowledge power and autonomy to make up their own minds about what they need and what they don’t need in life.
and you know what? The revolution is happening now.. its really coming!
It won’t be a quick process, precisely why you can’t televise it.. it’ll be a subtle, gradual and yet apparent change.
Look around the world…
Already more and more people are aware of how the media feeds us crap. People are starting to look for spiritual fulfillment, to value their time, and to appreciate the world around us…
University students that have the qualifications and brains to go out and work as bankers or lawyers, are choosing to go and live in third world countries to help others.
More people attend Yoga than church in a lot of cities.
Books on “Spirituality” are more popular than ever.
The financial crisis .. a sign of Capitalism starting to fall in on itself?
The rise of nations in the Middle East – showing us what can be achieved when we stand up against oppression.
The real revolution is something that cannot be held accountable to one film or one piece of music or one place and time. It is starting in minds allover the world.
Maybe years later we will say “Wow, that was crazy.. how did we used to live like that? Why were we so stupid?!”
DAMN right the revolution will not be televised!!
We are moving into a new age.. the age of communication and love.. away from superficiality, ego and selfishness. It all begins with a suspicion of modern cultural values… a global shift in consciousness…
R.I.P Gill Scott-Heron, may you rest in heavenly peace. Thank-you for the inspiration.
