Referenced in Sunday’s Celebration of Life service was the phrase “The revolution will not be televised,” which was a 1970 song by Gil Scott-Heron.  The song’s title become an often-used catchphrase  among the U.S. Black Power movement in the 60’s, with lyrics referencing TV shows, ad slogans, news stories, and entertainment icons, all of which were examples of what the the racial revolution wouldn’t be.In our western culture we live our lives vastly impacted by pop culture – things that are ‘televised.’  Consumerism and fads are powerful societal influences that draw our attention away from deeply embedded toxic issues such as racism.  And so the beat has gone on, decade after decade, century after century.  In this current era there is televised news coverage of nearly everything…from the killing of George Floyd to the multitudes of protests and marches that have been sparked because of the televising of his death.  For this I am grateful..where would this revolution be without it?    And still, the revolution must also occur off-camera and internally within us if real change is to come.

I’ve included The Revolution Will Not be Televised here…powerful then and now. May we all be inspired by its edginess to stand up, engage in, and learn more from our black brethren about dismantling the status quo of racial injustice.

In faith,
Lori

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 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 four 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 Mae
Pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run
Or trying to slide that color TV into a stolen ambulance
NBC will not be able predict the winner
At 8:32 on report from twenty-nine districts
The revolution will not be televised

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replay
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on 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 lifes of Roy Wilkins
Strolling through Watts in a red, black, and green liberation jumpsuit
That he has been saving for just the proper occasion

“Green Acres”, “Beverly Hillbillies”, and “Hooterville Junction”
Will no longer be so damn relevant
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
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 or Francis Scott Keys
Nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash
Engelbert Humperdinck, 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 germs that may cause bad breath
The revolution will put you in the driver’s seat

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