Revolution. I see you, Gil Scott-Heron. You were right. You are still right in terms of everything you said about revolution.

The United States of America was established as a direct effect of a revolution nearly 248 years ago. The word revolution has been referenced and/or uttered countless times in this nation’s history over that period of time. Some Americans want a revolution – right here, right now. Some Americans will climb any mountain, swim any ocean, and contort themselves in extreme ways in order to avoid even the resemblance of a revolution. Other Americans believe that there really is no such thing as a revolution. And therein lies the problem. We all find ourselves living and working in a postmodern America that is every bit as real as it is fake. Ours is an existence within which we have on the one hand the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – while on the other hand there is conceived truth, perceived truth, and believed truth a.k.a. alternate facts a.k.a. conspiracy theories. My friends, welcome to the matrix. Or as the iconic rap group Public Enemy so loudly and so proudly rapped back in the late 1980s: “Welcome to the Terrordome.”

As Chuck D rapped:

“Never question what I am, God knows, huh!
‘Cause it’s coming from the heart
What I got, better get some
Get on up, hustler of culture
Snake bitten, been spit in the face, huh!
But the rhymes keep fittin’
Respect’s been given, how’s ya livin’
Now I can’t protect, a paid-off defect
Check the record and reckon an intentional wreck
Played, off as some intellect
Made the call, took the fall, broke the laws
Not my fault that they’re fallin’ off
Known as fair and square throughout my years
So I growl at the livin’ foul
Black to the bone, my home is your home
But welcome to the Terrordome.”

Yeah, Chuck (as one Flavor Flav would say)! While Chuck D wrote these lyrics nearly 4 decades ago to musically address the departure of Professor Griff from Public Enemy, those same lyrics could easily be applied to our elected officials on every level: local, state, and federal. Those lyrics could be applied to entertainers of all shapes, sizes, races, ages, and backgrounds. Those lyrics could be applied to any and all Americans who actually believe that this land is their land, that all laws are their laws to comply with or ignore depending on their power and privilege; and that White is automatically right 100 percent of the time every time, every day, everywhere, in every way.

For African Americans, America is for all intents and purposes a Terrordome: a realm where Black women, children, and men are subject to discrimination, frustration, intimidation, subjugation, and even death suddenly and without warning by the powers-that-be: including members of the media, law enforcement, government, corporations, schools, systems, institutions, norms, as well as the shadowy self-appointed determinators of social location. When I was a child, my parents repeatedly told me that I needed to be at least twice as knowledgeable and skilled as my White peers in order to get half as far. If that was true back then, it’s no longer the standard now. These days, a brotha’s or a sista’s intellect, work history, and leadership skills are entirely subjective and readily dismissed when compared to another candidate or colleague. The majority is not impressed by our Divine Nine Greek-letter organizations, our Masonic organizations, our civil rights organizations, or any other of our community-based organizations established and maintained for the greatest good of everyone.

Those who are actively being terrorized – as well as those who have been historically terrorized – deal with profound trauma. Trauma can generate pain beyond one’s ability to express into words. Trauma – if felt unacknowledged and/or untreated – can devolve into anxiety, self-loathing, depression, suicidal ideations, and various other mental health diagnoses.

As if living in a hellscape that can justifiably be called a (the?) Terrordome, we African Americans also simultaneously find ourselves trapped deep in the Matrix.

Morpheus – the mentoring prophet of truth – in the Matrix trilogy of films famously said this to Neo, his mentee: “The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work… when you go to church… when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth… you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.”

Is Morpheus right – or is he right? For BIPOCs, does America not feel all-too-often like a prison? Are we not systematically blinded from the truth? The French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin famously opined that “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” That is, to my mind, quite true. I agree with him. However, it must also be stated that this state, this nation, perhaps this planet itself deeply fears a world where Black people are embraced as full partners economically, politically, intellectually, culturally, physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, creatively, musically, judicially, educationally, historically, and actually. That is the place Black people deserve. That is the place all people deserve. Sadly, there are people in high places within our society who work tirelessly to separate minority members from majority members; minority members from their own faith; and even minority members from each other.

One of the greatest quotes from a motion picture in last generation comes to us courtesy of brilliant performance as Morpheus in 2003’s “The Matrix Reloaded” when he opines: “Then tomorrow we may all be dead, but how would that be different from any other day? This is a war, and we are soldiers. Death can come for us at any time, in any place. Now consider the alternative. What if I am right? What if the prophecy is true? What if tomorrow the war could be over? Isn’t that worth fighting for? Isn’t that worth dying for?” This quote perfectly encapsulates the African American experience. We love a country that does not love us back. We honor a nation that refuses to acknowledge that we even have a concept of honor. We promise to faithfully protect and defend an America that consistently fails to protect or defend us. It’s an abusive relationship laced with negligence and abandonment.

I’ve long been a fan of Gil Scott-Heron’s music/poetry in general; and his iconic song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” in particular. These lyrics, though:

“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 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.”

I hear you, Brother Gil. Once you dismiss the many cultural references of popular retail products, popular television shows, popular musical artists, and popular network TV soap operas at the time he composed the lyrics to “Revolution”, his sentiments and thoughts are every bit as prophetic and relevant now in the early 2020s as they were back in early 1970s. Quite frankly, it is a crying shame that the plight of African Americans is as bad – or worse – in 2024.

As far as I’m concerned, the revolution will be televised; if for no other reason than the ratings sure to be generated. The revolution will also be criticized. The revolution will be demonized. The revolution will be ostracized. And of course, the revolution will be minimized for its destructive effects on African Americans individually and collectively.

I’ll say this again. I cannot achieve without you. You cannot conceive without me. We cannot believe without each other. So, in ways known and unknown – seen and unseen – we are infused; one to another to another to another. Our fates are interwoven. Our destinies are interconnected. That includes Black people, Brown people, White people, Asian people, people of all hues and national origins. Any of us. All of us. That is the way that it is because that is the way our God intends.

So welcome to the revolution. Welcome to the Terrordome. Brought to you live and direct from the Matrix. Please make yourselves at home as best you can, kinfolks – because smart money says that next to nothing will be changing here for us anytime soon.

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