Gil Scott Heron said it himself: “The revolution will not be televised.”
Do you know why? The revolution will not happen, that’s why. We talk about it, we rhyme about it, we complain about the government. We wear Che Guevarra shirts, boycott Nike, go to open mics and flip poems about it; but it will never happen.
There will be no guerilla coup against the powers that be. There will be no social uprising to overthrow the government. There will be no sudden surge of change from the conventional thinking that years of mental oppression has laid upon the masses, making us comfortable in our ready-in-one-minute lives. None of this will happen because people forget that the root word in activism is ACT!
When you think of the Soapbox Revolutionary, many of my militant brothers and sisters automatically turn up their noses and question how down; that person really is. The thought of a person taking up the movement because they have been moved by Common’s lyrics and now claim to be a 5 percenter, rockin’ a head wrap and cowry shells, can make anybody who has been hit by a baton or has dodged rubber bullets want to call him/her out with their bullhorns up loud.
I have seen it done. I have seen people in the same cipher, calling each other out, questioning each other’s role in the movement. You may BELIEVE you are part of a movement , yet don’t do a damn thing about it.
There are droves of “supporters” who support in word but not action. However, even paradigms of resistance need to be questioned. What we need are leaders in the community and not martyrs. Being a revolutionary in a “traditional” stance may be more romantic and poetic but what good is it to our people if our strong leaders get locked up, shut down, or killed?
Being a revolutionary should focus on growth through self-realization. There are levels to personal development like the different levels of the military. Not that I’m supporting hierarchy, but there is an existing relationship between the process of getting educated and becoming a revolutionary.
There are many fronts in the movement that people can take action in. We have the ones who are more vocal; the soldiers in the front lines who get most of the publicity and who are more visible targets as well.
But before we have the soldiers, we need someone who would TRAIN these young men and women. After all, nothing defeats the purpose of social change more than a misinformed leader. This is when the educator comes in.
The educators are people who talk about history, talk about the movement, talk about social change, in order to recruit more people in the movement and be catalysts for social change. They come in forms of teachers, artists, emcees, poets, and – gasp – soapbox revolutionaries.
Rather than posing the question, “What makes a revolutionary?”, let’s focus more on a different question; how about, “How can I help build a stronger community?”
Our world is changing in a rate where people are needed to start coming together. We are living in a time where the threat of war looms over all of us and it is slamming our people’s emotion in so many directions.
Due to such a declining economy, teachers are being laid off. Cultural and art budgets are being cut in half to support military spending. This affects mostly inner city, lower income, and multi-cultural programs first. So where does this leave our children?
The lack of help and upward mobility in our societies is keeping lower income young adults within their demographics, almost forcing them to have no other choice but to join the military due to lack of funds for a higher education. The list can go on and on.
Put frankly, let’s stop posing the problems and start searching for solutions!
Let’s stop calling people out (we should be the ones who make assessments within ourselves) and start collaborating with others to be catalysts of social change and political reform. Let’s stop talking and start doing, but let’s do things smartly. Let’s start putting the word “ACT” into “ACTIVISM”.
Mohandas Karamach and Mahatma Gandhi said it best – “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
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