The Revolution Will Not Be Televised; A Memoir —after Gill Scott-Heron
By Chimezie Umeoka
The Revolution will not have wild eyes and clapping hands
Nor long fangs and carnivorous teeth
It will not be sung by an Acapella nor murmured
By the throng of silenced people
Brother, the Revolution will have no anthem
The people will not appear in rebellious uniforms
No symbolic flags shall herald from their frail hands
You will not watch the news on NTA
With commercial interruptions and
short breaks to recite the national anthem
The Revolution will not be televised
The Revolution will not be televised
Mothers will not keep the truth away
From their children and fathers won't
Be able to beat them into ignorance
The Revolution will not be a course in your
age-beaten universities
It will never be a propaganda,
And diplomats won't lead the charge against truth.
the stories will not appear on Punch or the Vanguard newspapers;
It will not be televised on BBC YouTube channels
The Revolution will not happen at the toll-gate
The voices of the youths will not wail
From gun-bullets in anguish and pain,
DJ Switch won't have the need to switch on
her camera
The Revolution will not be televised
The Revolution will not be televised
The streets will not be full of stamping militant foots,
No smokes from tear gas will fill the air,
The Revolution will not send ambitious youths
Away from their country
You will not have to worry about Brain drain
And its effects on the economy,
The Airports will not be full of fleeting citizens
The Revolution will never be a history
to be removed from the academic syllabus
The Revolution will not be ethnically sentimental
There will be no tribalistic advantage
The Revolution will not be sung by Fela Kuti
It shall not be written by imprisoned intellectuals
The Revolution will be no Renaissance, sisters
It will not be a familiar protest
The Revolution will not be televised
The Revolution will not be televised
The Revolution will be a novel movement.
On Gill Scott-Heron
“One of the most important progenitors of rap music…”
—John Bush
Gill Scott-Heron’s The Revolution Will Note Be Televised, written in 1971, is a powerful, musical poem that largely reflects an idealism of the black struggle.and liberation. Gill himself was an important Black figure, dubbed “the godfather of rap” and “the black Bob Dylan”, his oeuvre has motivated and has been a source of inspiration to many artists, writers and poets.
According to Gill, the Revolution which he expresses is the abstract revolution of the mind, a similar ideology presented by Bob Marley in Redemption Song as “the emancipation from mental slavery”. The idea that it will not be televised reflects how individuals will come to the spiritual truth of things, to realize their truest self and place in the world.
“You have to change your mind before you change the way you live and move,” Says Gill.
The poem has been referenced by many contemporary artists and musicians, including Kendrick Lamar in his recent performance during the Halftime Super Bowl Show. As an inspiration to me, and in celebration of the black history month, it was imperative that I wrote this other piece significantly inspired by his unmatchable poem. I also greatly believe that the most important revolution, the emancipation of our minds from mental slavery, will be an act of solitude and silence. It will not be televised.
Image credits: Katie Brown
