The Revolution Will not be Televised!

This goes out to Gil Scott Heron, RIP.

One night I went to hear a friend play some of her music at the Black Cat Cafe in Portland Oregon. Now the Black Cat ( I don't remember the name! I could be way wrong!!) was a lefty place that served up "Fire your boss!" with your Mocha and "Smash the state!" with your Latte. I liked the joint and I appreciate folks working towards social justice, though I'm not a political man so I never realy felt comfortable or welcome amongst in this joint. Trust me, I'd feel just as out of water at a Tea Party rally as well.

As my friend got into her first song, a gentleman she introduced me to sat down and decided it was okay to chew my ear off. He had that rather pompous air about him, young, pretty, serious and cocky like I once was, and had a nice shiny leather coat with a shiny ponytail to match. Dude shined so much you didn't need anything beyond the candle light to get that revolutionary romantic vibe going! That ideal I was born into in 1968, except that it's 1999 and we're partying like Prince asked us so politely to.

He launces into something about this African dude who is visiting Portland and seeing he social justice work he and his comrades are doing in Portland. the conversationwas heavily one sided, I couldn't contribute much and really, I was trying to hear some music and didn't have the nerve to tell him to please shut it! And part of me honestly was thinking "this dude is talking about a guy from Mali visiting our beloved Portland, I wonder what the guy from Mali is thinking, like we live at the fucking country club!"
So he went on and on on his heavy trip when I finally tried to interject about the weather. I say "I'm happy the sun is finally shining I feel like riding my bike more!" This changes the topic to "oh, but the pollution in Portland is so much! the smog, riding a bike is terrible in this town!" I'm at a loss for words at this point, and bored with him and my friends music, but amused enough to stay a while.

So he gets back on his Africa trip when he annonces to me " you know, most of the violence in Africa is US instigated!" That hit my breaking point though I agree, economic plunder kills a lot of people. I told him a story about a friend who's sister lived in Mali. He went to visit her and one day they decided to go across the lake. To do this you had to go into town and hire a captain to take you in his boat. the captains usually hung out in the bar so that's where they went. When they found one they asked if their car would be safe. They were told "of course, do not worry, it is safe here!" When they asked how they knew a bunch of men gathered around to tell them that last year a man stole from the market. They chased him, beat him to death and tired him (the practice of wrapping his body in tires and setting him aflame! The men were proud to say "I dealt the deathblow!" "No, I did!'. they fought over this. I said to my young Castro a be, "No US instigated violence here, just plain old cruel stupid behavior." His reaction? "That guy stole, he was a thief!" I said, "maybe he was,or maybe someone just didn't like him, there was no trial, no due process, just the bloody murder of another human being. US or not, we haven't evolved beyond the point of violence and fear" He starts to argue with me about this and that and I turn the tables, I was getting annoyed so please understand, I used unusual language for me! i say "Mmm Hmm, and how many niggers (this is a word I had never used before and I didn't enjoy it, but something got so twisted in me I remember using it so he'd perhaps never talk to me again! I still feel yucky for using it, but I did.) got hung in the south for stealing and other crimes they were never convicted for, never had a trial for, how many lost their lives for looking at someone the wrong way, the right way, or maybe having a few too many dollars in their pocket or a good plot of land, how many motherfucker? how many?" This shut him down to the point where all he could say was "the revolution is coming!" My reaction? "Man, the only thing revolution brings is one regime taking over another and terrorizing the population into submission. He says, "name one that did that!' "Okay, let's start with the French, US, Cuban where they throw gay folks into jail still, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam where the French reporter who got to go north reported how young the population is, hmmm, I wonder what happened to the old folks? Cambodia, do you wish for me to continue?" Last thing out his mouth was "the revolution is coming, stay tuned" to which i replied "i feel like I am tuned, you best throw out your television!"

I think Gil Nailed it with that song 40 years ago, the revolution will not be televised. We keep looking for external forces and violent change. Hell, we keep looking for a bloody spaceship. The aliens have allways been amongst us. They arrive throught ways we can't understand or see. If they arrive in a ship we're in trouble cause that says they are as violent as we are!

Gil nailed it in a way that makes sense to me tonight. thousands of years of politics, religion, race, nationalism, have these solved one human problem? One? We only have one revolution we haven't tried yet, and that one is psychological, spiritual. Oh, there have been folks who have walked this Earth and have given us the opportunity to free ourselves, but we keep on  killing them. Tell someone who lives in the illusion that they are free that they are not, they will maim and kill to prove they are! That kind of violence is exciting, and gets televised 24 hours a day. Any real revolution at this point is inward and quiet. True liberation is so quiet it's not worth any money to advertisers, so, the revolution will not be televised.

Thank you Gil. xojb