The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

I don’t have a TV, haven’t for many years. So watching the hotel’s six news outlets gave me a glimpse at the BS streaming in most homes on a daily basis. 

The Rittenhouse trail has gone to deliberation.  Pundits from all sides regurgitate what their team wants to hear. Heated arguments among the few gathered outside the courthouse are spotlighted. And if you blinked you missed the interfaith clergy praying near-by for sanity and sanctity to prevail. Just not sexy enough for airtime. 

More importantly, witnessing people standing for peace could unite more people for peace and unity doesn’t serve our war minded economy. Divisiveness is ignorance and very abundant these days.

So I woke up in Liberal, Kansas and found myself remembering a song of relevance, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. Gil Scott-Heron wrote the prophetic lyrics in 1971 chastising the trance that has immobilized our people.

The revolution will not be televised. It will be lived and told by the living.

I also listened to a zoom conversation by The Center, an LGBTQ advocacy in La Crosse. They hosted three Black youth who have grown weary of hearing the “N” word as they walk the halls of their high school. And made wearier by the inertia of an administration unwilling or unable to help them. 

The youth were clear. Perhaps the most important take away was the straightforward, “We’re not here to fix people who don’t get it. We’re here to help one another.” With their conviction, I am sure they will, because the revolution will not be televised. It will be lived and told by the living for the living.

CUSH

WISDOM

Lyrics

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

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

What Will Be Our Legacy?

In 1933, Franklin Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps. Over nine years the CCC employed 3 million men giving relief to the unemployed during the Great Depression. They created 700 new state parks and planted 3.5 billion trees on land destroyed by fires, clear cutting and did a lot more. We still benefit from much of what they accomplished. 

Currently, I am enjoying a cabin in the Ozarks built by the CCC. I have walked the trails they cut here and those at home at Devil’s Lake State Park. They created a ninety-year legacy that still gives to us.

In sharp contrast an international gathering of world leaders is wrapping up its 26th yearly meeting. These gatherings were created to keep the planet safe from human mismanagement. But far from the visionary and swift action taken by those who implemented the CCC, the COP meetings have yielded little in the way of legacy. Instead we are told that military emissions should be exempt from national emissions scrutiny. And the meetings have remained elite and aloof to people – primarily indigenous – already suffering the effects of climate change. There are more oil reps in the COP meetings than people who are losing homelands and livelihoods due to our reluctance to change.

The failure to listen to indigenous people has driven us here. The concept “to the conqueror goes the spoils” must end. For those who say, “It’s too late.” You are also not listening. Yes, it will take a mammoth effort to end the use of fossil fuels, but it can be done. One step. Take one step to reduce consumption and take the larger step to demand that leadership reverses course. 

We can and we must. 

White Rock Mountain, Arkansas. One of over 700 state parks created by the CCC in its 9 year history. What will be our legacy?

Diversity, Inclusion and Equity

Our local paper reported on a recent school board meeting. During public comments a representative from “Education, not Propaganda” explained that words like “diversity, inclusion and equity” should not be taught to our children.

Hmmm. I always thought those words were used to champion our collective humanity. You know the “one people, one race” ideal. It appears that brotherly love is taking another hit these days, as is the notion of learning from our past so as not to repeat it.

The new bandwagon is demanding that school boards whitewash our history replacing facts with fiction. They have taken a page from Steve Bannon’s playbook and are punishing school board members who violate what they consider to be conservative principles. They are threatening members, shutting down school board meetings, and forcing their propaganda wherever they can. 

My father was a conservative. He fought the Nazi’s in WWII. He honored freedom of speech and applauded my willingness to explore critical thinking on all subjects. I don’t think he would look kindly on this ill wind blowing across our land. I think he would fear it. I know he would fight it. 

But since he’s not here, I’ll honor his legacy by taking up the fight. There are numerous statewide organizations leading the way towards reconciliation and equity. Among them is a Christian interfaith organization called Wisconsin Counsel of Churches. Their latest effort is called “Taking a Faithful Stance for Equity”. 

And although I do not profess a faith, I signed up to take a stand. 

The time is long gone to sit idle thinking everything will be ok. It is not OK. But it is within our power to make it right.  “Diversity, inclusion and equity” should be our mantra until they are understood and until they are lived.

Check out these Wisconsin faith organizations countering ignorance and hate:

Wisdom

Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice

The photo is from “Taking a Faithful Stance for Equity”

Choose the Green Path

The United Nations Climate Summit begins November first and is already being pronounced a failure. World leaders are declining attendance, covid is ramping up and the costs to produce and attend the two-week conference are steadily climbing out of reach – as is the warming of the earth.

This moment of uncaring has been brought to you by decades of lies and by greed that has known no bounds. This precarious moment has been fueled by cynicism and steered by a dominant culture that cares not for the earth or for people, but prides itself on how much it can take and how quickly.

I once learned that the original people of this land referred to the colonizers as “fat takers”. I don’t know if it was so, but it seems applicable today. Fat takers: the ones who skimmed the cream off the top, who took the best at any cost. No vision of the future for themselves or for their progeny. No care for the earth or for replacing what they stole. This mindset has led generations and the bill of sales is now being laid on our table to be paid. And it is a bill we cannot pay if we continue on the path of the scorched earth.

Frightening people with statistics is not working. And we’ve grown numb hearing about increased fires, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and other abnormalities – unless it’s happening to us.

Waiting for world leaders to act is a kicking of the can. It gives us someone to blame, but that’s all. No, this moment requires all of us. Humankind must stop allowing greed to govern. We must find our compassion and our empathy, and fall in love with the earth once more. The green path is waiting.

Our Human Family

The covid pandemic has not brought the clarion call one hoped would bring the people of the word together. Instead, driven by fear and division we’ve been dazzled by lies rather than unity.

Later this month world leaders will meet in Glasgow, Scotland to discuss the larger concern of climate change. For those with the ability to glean the rapid changes the earth is undergoing and the harm that it’s causing people, we can hope for swift and decisive action. But hope may not be enough to sway money driven politics to change the policies that have brought us to this point.

The media has finally loosened its tongue on the dire consequences we face if the earth continues to grow hotter. But many of us are still cushioned by the fossil fuel lull of cheap heat, water at the ready, and air-conditioned lifestyles. Too many are not prepared to reduce the consumption of what they believe is living the “good life”. 

We have not yet understood that we’re part of a larger human family. And by some estimates a quarter of our family are already suffering the result of climate change in lack of water and food. Eighty -five percent of the world’s population have been affected by human-induced climate change. Human beings are on the move to find new and better ways to survive. But our borders, our fears and our inability to change habits and to share are leading to extreme conditions for many. Too many of the human family are needlessly suffering. And hope and prayers alone will not change the course we have chosen.

It’s time for a revival of the human spirit; time to remember the human family and to respect our home, the earth that is capable of feeding all of us. That is the indigenous understanding we all need to remember and accept.

photo – a logo by Eigenes Werk, August 7, 2006 – under Creative Commons shared license

Your Fighting Spirit

Never give up your fighting spirit and learn from others who refuse to conform. 

I had an older cousin who spent the last four decades of her life in a wheel chair. In her early twenties she was paralyzed from muscular dystrophy and could barely move her hands or her head. The first time I learned of her, it was because I heard her voice singing in church. It was a strong and clear voice. It embodied love. When I realized the powerful voice I heard had come from her seemingly broken body, I was amazed. 

She then became my Sunday school teacher. She was devout to her faith, but what I witnessed in her was an unyielding ability to be true to her self. She didn’t tolerate sympathy, because she did not feel lacking. She was not satisfied with Sunday worship alone; she lived her faith and cared for those less fortunate. Many a Saturday I spent ripping sheets apart and rewrapping them to be sent to lepers’ colonies. Many more were spent volunteering at a local Down’s syndrome home – under her supervision. Simply put, she was a powerhouse. 

Her fighting spirit helped keep my own alive. I know her unwavering determination to love caused many to keep her a bit at bay. They respected her, but few could keep up with her. They wanted her to conform to their understanding of what her seeming illness could and should do. But she was defiant, and her resistance to become what others expected of her was a great teacher to me.

We never walk alone. Take courage from those who give it so freely. Let the love and compassion that pulses through us be the victor. Hold onto your fighting spirit.  Resist normality. It was never meant for you.

Rethinking Progress

Our township is quaint. Most people have lived here their whole lives. Many were dairy farmers before the time of “Get big or get out”. They’re first hand witnesses to the shortcomings of that adage. To some the small family farm die off of is “progress”. But progress shouldn’t have to come on the backs of people or in the destruction of the earth.

It was progress that drove most indigenous people away. Had they been encouraged to stay, or allowed to teach their ways of stewardship of the earth, things might be different for all of us.

But as it is, I hear the bulldozers cutting new paths for the loggers who are going to cash in on the land. There is no regard for animal life. No regard for the fellowship of the trees. Freshly cut-logging roads in these hills will add to heavy spring runoff and an increase in floods. There’s little regard for life when money is at stake.

In the beginning of autumn colors we will watch the trees come down. It ‘s dark now but I can still hear the bulldozing. There is no legal recourse to stop it and talk is futile when you’re a woman telling men there are better ways.

“This is how we’ve always done it”, ends the conversation. Maybe you have always done it this way, but there are people who understand their relationship to the land and to one another. 

The Menominee are internationally heralded for the way they harvest their forests.  Care is taken to ensure an ongoing healthy ecosystem. It is never too late to learn.

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. I’m weary of living in a world driven by ignorance. Money will not heal unconsciousness.

For Love’s Sake

Once again, the United States has demonstrated its disregard of refugees of color and especially Haitian refugees. Once again we watched as this president followed the directions of past presidents before him. Party affiliation doesn’t have much clout when racism rears its head. 

Thinking people are noticing the implications of climate change. The horrific ordeals the people of Haiti have endured over the past few years coupled with our unending racism damns them to imprisonment and worse. 

The photos of white men on horseback rounding up black men, women and children desperate for aid were absolutely abhorrent. Too painful to look at, but to look away is to ignore. To ignore is an act of compliance and agreement. Compliance with inhumanity is a deadly disease.

Clearly we are engaged in a war to save our souls. We have politicized every aspect of our society and we buy every lie that is dangled before us. The biggest lie of all is the one declaring our righteousness as God’s chosen. We have made outcasts of our humanity and our ideals.  And we elect status quo politicians to keep it that way.

Kindness and compassion must reawaken in our dialogue, in our actions and in our policies. There will be no Superman to save us from ourselves. We hold all that we need within us and it’s bursting to come forth. 

The only thing we have not tried…is Love.

It will only take a few more of us to stand in unity and in peace.

It will take a revolution of understanding to erupt in our hearts and in our minds.

And it will take trying the only thing we have not tried…  

Let us do it, for Love’s sake.

The quote and the photo are attributed to Rev. Jacqui Lewis found on Facebook.

A Pathway to Peace

I was thinking the other day how good it would be to stop shackling our children with beliefs we inherited. The innocence of a child is delicious to behold. Then we lather them up with all kinds of crazy ideas. We teach fear instead of instilling in them the possibility of consciousness. We teach hatred and alienation as we rob them of the sanctity of being human. We teach conformity in our desire to have them walk lock step with the status quo. And we let them fall prey to the same ideologies to which we unwittingly succumbed. 

For instance, since 1493, when a Pope issued the Doctrine of Discovery we have supported the idea of conquest and have used it for appropriation and colonization of indigenous people. And it can be argued that the subjugated role of women in Christianity combined with the notion of conquest makes way for the ongoing missing and murdering of indigenous women.

We teach, “Thou shall not kill”, making exceptions of war and capital punishment, and expect others to do harm on our behalf. This slipping away of our humanity did not come all at once and it will take a deliberate effort to retrieve it. 

But what is our recourse to reclaim our humanity? Conquest and violence are failed principles. Fighting fire with fire has does not work. Creating a culture of peace is the path we have yet to take. Understanding that our need for peace is as vital as breathing will give us the impetus to act. 

Cultivating our personal peace quickens the soul and cuts the chains of ideology. A recent international conference on Peace Education highlighted the good works of people world over towards this end. It was hopeful and inspiring.This is our moment to shine, bring on the peaceful.

It is that Simple

As the gardens wane and cooler mornings greet us, the revolution of time presses on. The afternoon light is more vivid and it seems a shame to not sit a while and take it in. This time is made for memories. The hopefulness of spring and the vigor of summer can still be felt, but the coming of autumn holds the reckoning of all that has gone before.

It’s a time of remembrance. Memories of loved ones who have walked on and of those too distant to hold close. It’s a time to reminisce and count the Goodness that has played a part in shaping our becoming. Bringing in the harvest and celebrating abundance is a universally shared experience. And in doing so the spirit of community becomes its own blessing. We are preparing for winter and the longest, darkest nights and this cycle of life and of this season of closure is rich with the preciousness of being alive.

In the course of it, I’m overcome with gratitude and I realize once again that gratitude is the core of who I am, of who we are. And I wonder as I walk over the leaves that are starting to fall, “Is it really that simple?” That to know myself is to be grateful for my life and everything that touches it…and the answer wells up inside of me, “Yes. It is that simple.”

It has been well over three years now that WDRT Community Radio has allowed me to bring you my thoughts on the power of humanity and the choices we face to remain human. For that opportunity I am grateful. Community is alive and well here and it takes all of us to keep it flourishing. Thanks to all who keep it going.

Today is WDRT’s pledge drive. If you feel it, please give.

This piece was inspired in part by the passing of a great friend. May his memory bring peace to all who knew him.