Today, Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 vision, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” rings true unexpectedly. We’re witnessing the revolution from our living rooms, broadcast in high definition and dissected on social media. Yet, despite the clarity and closeness of these broadcasts, there’s a strange distance. We watch, but do we see? We hear, but do we listen? With the world’s struggles laid bare on screens before us, many of us find it easier to watch than to act. We scroll through newsfeeds, pausing on images of protest and voices crying for change, only to move on to the next thing. Caught in the stream of digital noise, our deep-seated urge for justice too often fades faster than the screen can refresh.
Here, using Gil Scott-Heron’s words as a springboard, I’ll dive into how we engage with the movements around us. Join me in exploring whether we are merely spectators in this televised revolution or if we can find within ourselves the drive to turn off our TVs and make real change. How involved are you? Let’s uncover this together through a song that never knew its prophecy would be so literal and yet so misunderstood. In the following blog I will use the reimagined lyrics of Gil Scott-Heron’s work to critique our modern engagement with THE REVOLUTION.
Gil – You will not be able to stay home, brother
Renee –Watching LIVE on the 4K 75” TV
Gil – You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out
Renee – Plugged in, turned out and still left out – snacks during the commercials
Gil – You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and Skip out for beer during commercials
Renee – skip the news, only watching streams and reels
Gil – Because the revolution will not be televised
Renee – G.E.O.R.G.E. F.L.O.Y.D
Gil – The revolution will not be televised
Renee – LIVE yet it barely moves you
Gil – The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox ……….
Renee – Brought to you by Twitter, Facebook and IG LIVE, WTFDIM Part 43
Gil – The revolution will not be televised
Renee – Palestine
Gil – The revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre
Renee –brought to you by Netflix and Youtube
Gil -The revolution will not make you look five pounds thinner
Renee – that’s funny
Gil – 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 TV into a stolen ambulance
Renee – Hurricane Katrina
Gil – There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down Brothers on the instant replay
Renee – Trayvon
Gil – There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down Brothers on the instant replay
Renee – Philando
Gil – There will be no pictures of Whitney Young Being run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process
Renee – Eric
Gil – And women will not care if Dick finally got down with Jane On “Search for Tomorrow” because black people Will be in the street looking for a brighter day
Renee – We traded Dick for Kanye
Gil – The revolution will not be televised There will be no highlights on the eleven o’clock news
Renee – we watch the highlights, double tap, repost
Gil – The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb Or Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell om Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink or the Rare Earth
Renee – This is America – how Childish
Gil – The revolution will not be televised
Renee – Sandra Bland
Gil – The revolution will not be right back After a message about a white tornado, white lightning or white people
Renee – No commercials during Black “Housewives”, Black “Bad Girls”, and Black Ops
Gil – The revolution will put you in the driver’s seat
Renee – You have the remote and are still remote
Gil – The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised, Will not be televised, will not be televised
Renee – Revolution IS televised, digitized and trivialized – hit the instant replay
Gil – The revolution will be no re-run, brothers
Renee – “The truth don’t need motivation.”
Gil – The revolution will be live
Turn off the TV and do something
Three-Fifths 