“YOU DON’T HEAR ME, YO!”

(Baltimore, MD) “You don’t hear me, Yo!” The term is in your face; poetic in its simplicity, profane in its character, and at its core, prophetic. It is a colloquialism used in Baltimore by a generation far removed from my own (You may have heard it where you live, but it is authentic Baltimore.).

“YOU DON’T HEAR ME, YO!”

Squeegee Kids in Bmore

A young Black man trying to clean your windows as you drive through the streets of Bmore may yell this as you wave him off from cleaning your window; or from the guy “slinging” on the streets to pay rent for his momma and score some Nikes; or the woman who leaves three children at home as she dances on a pole at a strip club. It is their uncompromised vernacular in a world that literally sees them, but doesn’t want to see them.

“YOU DON’T HEAR ME, YO!”

In this moment, it is expressed as “Defund the Police.” Like our colloquial term it is uncompromised and makes people squeamish.

So-called progressives (read White people), “Well, we just can’t have a society without police, who’s going to solve the murders and protect us?”

Black intellectuals/Black people who’ve made it may say, “I get what you’re saying, but ‘Defund the Police,’ seems extreme. Maybe ‘Reform the Police’ would be a better way of saying it.”

MAGA types/conservatives are baffled by all these people who are in the streets, and to them its just a “liberal cabal that has run amok.”

It’s none of this. They are laughing, while you’re thinking, “How do I know?” Some of them tell me and I have sifted through the empirical data. On the ground, there are chants. These are mere slogans created on social media. It’s where they live. They have literally emerged “from their pupa as a fully formed butterfly.” Those who taught them told them, “you can be anything you want.”

We gave them Maya Angelo’s book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” to inspire them. We told them about Martin and Malcom X (and made them watch the movie). We told them to be like the Panthers, Angela Davis, and Nelson Mandela.  

Their world was already turned upside down by a pandemic. You may wonder, “Why are they in the streets?” Their prospects for employment was going to be limited because of their uncompromised behavior. Some created their own businesses, but learned they would need the “majority community” to fund or embrace their “wokeness” or “outsiderness.” (Yea, I made that one up). They never forgot what we told them, “You can be anything you want.”

Protesters in Bmore

They want to live in New York, L.A., Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, and DC. This group of post-millennials are shocked by the cost of rent in these cities and what it gets you. They love rap and hip-hop and their icons are Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Rhianna, Lebron James, Ta Nehisi Coats, Kendrick Lamar, Billy Porter, School Boy Q, the Amigos, Cardi B and Lizzo, just to name a few.

Shhh! These icons haven’t been “broke and woke” for a long time. “But we keepin it real, Yo!” In today’s terms, they are living “champagne dreams and caviar wishes.” When in L.A. they still drop in at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles; or have someone grab take out from their favorite Black eatery.  Pandemic, what pandemic? “We’re all good at the crib.” “Tell George Floyd’s family, Ima gonna pay for the funeral expenses and make sure his daughter can go to college for free.”

“YOU DON’T KNOW ME, YO!”

C2: I don’t get why White kids are joining protests in Harford County? (A predominately White area North of Bmore – 10% of its population is African-American).

C3: Well, part of it is, they don’t believe in the same things their parents do – similar to previous generations. They have been globalized by the internet, and they see this as their time.

C2: I still don’t get it! You’re talking around the issue.

B1: You need to listen!

C2: He’s not answering the question! He’s going around the issue.

C3: (In a calm voice) I have talked to some of these individuals and they see it as their time. (I continue to explain; that’s when the shouting starts.)

C2: He’s not answering the question. This is a bunch of BS, and I don’t get it! That’s your opinion but it ain’t mine.

C3: Let me give it to you in their vernacular, “You Don’t Know Me, Yo?”

C2: What the hell does that mean?

C3: “You Don’t Know Me, Yo?”

C2: Know what?

C3: “You Don’t Know Me Yo?”

This goes on for 2 mins. B1 is not happy.

C3: There is a deep disdain by individuals who use this term against progressives and yes, Black intellectuals, who have made it. They see you as the problem.

C2: What hell does that mean?

C3: I’m done with arguing. We are going to have to agree to disagree.

I leave knowing I have created a deep hurt. I return home pondering, “What have I done?” Thirty minutes later the phone rings.

C2: I am sorry, and I want to apologize. You’re a good person.

C3: You never have to apologize. I love you unconditionally. Just to let you know, you’re not the first person I’ve argued with and you won’t be the last. (C1 Laughs)

And that is how this idea began.

“YOU DON’T KNOW ME, YO!”

“If you’re gonna be teachin folks’ things, you be sure you know what you sayin…If you’re gonna speak on behalf of a whole generation and you know enough to handle their education, be sure you know the deal about past situations. And you ain’t you just repeatin sumptin what you heard on a TV Station.”

Gil Scott Heron, Message to the Messengers.

Wrapping my head around this idea of “You don’t hear me, Yo!” reminds me of a conversation I had with Dr. Lester Spence about his book Stare In the Darkness in 2011. It is a generational coming of age book, based on the thesis of Black Politics and Hip Hop. Following one of his talks, we talked about the word “Nigga.”

The conversation began as he asked his very young daughter to put her hands over her ears. “Nigga…that word has a number of different meanings. From someone who can be your deepest- deepest friend to somebody who is your worst enemy. There are very few words that can convey that wide range of emotions in that little word.”

“You don’t hear me, Yo!” may not be on the same level, but it has the same effect. It can be said in anger, it can be said in jest, and it can be poetic as I mentioned before. The effect of hearing it will make people sit up straight (hope you’re doing it now). How you respond, is even more telling.

When the “Black Lives Matter” movement began, those repeating the refrain knew its power. It made some uncomfortable. The retort was, “All Lives Matter,” according to Senator Bernie Saunders, then a candidate for President. (Remember he was removed from a stage on the west coast after saying this to an audience). Police tried to co-op the slogan and the movement using, “Blue Lives Matter.”

When Colin Kaepernick took up the slogan and began to kneel during the National Anthem, he was vilified by “the majority community” as being unpatriotic (read ‘Uppity’). That seems tame at this time where communities across the globe are taking a stance. Underserved communities knew they were “catching hell” from the police, and now the world knows we are “catching hell.”

“YOU DON’T KNOW ME, YO!”

“A riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of White society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

By the time Dr. King spoke these words he was being marginalized because of his stance on the Viet Nam War. He was also being pillared by a younger generation. The 25 and under group decide they needed new slogans such as Black Power, Black Liberation, and Power to the People (Black Panther slogan). For a majority of Americans and some Black Americans at the time it was seen as radical. Radicalization is a tool to confront the comfortable, and that is the case in this moment.

Let me suggest, if you are feeling uncomfortable looking at those who are marching, protesting, and clamoring for change, they see you as the problem. I’m not agreeing, but you need to know. I expect to hear their voices loud and clear at the ballot box, good, bad, or indifferent. Each generation has its moment. This moment will not only define a generation, but will create a lasting historical legacy. scholars and others will point to this time; when America shifted from what it was, to what it is going to be.

“YOU DON’T HEAR ME, YO!”

Charles F. Robinson, III

The Revolution Can Not Die: A Tribute to Gil Scott Heron

(Baltimore)- The news came like a “ton of bricks,” Gil Scott Heron dies in New York. For a group of Africans-Americans who came of age after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the aftermath of Malcolm X’s assassination, Heron spoke to us in a unique way. The hip-hop generation of conscious rappers knew of him and heavily sampled his most famous work “The Bottle.” He was their so call “God Father of Rap.” But the artist and the poet chastised them and didn’t like the title. He made clear in his thoughts in the Message to the Messengers,

“If you’re gonna be teachin folks you ought to know what you talkin about… You ain’t said no words I ain’t said.“

The platitudes that will follow his death will come in waves, but there is a generation which was defined by his emergence in the Black arts movement. We were militants without the guns but rather the pen.

I know this because I knew of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen, but they were writers in books. The media choice for me was on record. I understood why Jimi Hendrix’s guitar wailed to the amazement of my white friends. James Browns, “Say it Loud, I’m Black and I'm Proud” and Nina Simone’s “Young Gifted and Black” were more than their words, their songs gave hope. I was still searching for an the answer and it came through the radio one day with the spoken word of Nikki Giovanni and her classic “Like a Ripple on a Pond.” It was both sexy and Black…it was young and eloquent…and it provides a means to speak to young ladies. Throw in Funkadelic’s “America Eats its Young” and my vocabulary expanded, but it was turned upside down by the Last Poets. Yea, with Afro, a liberation badge, and a black fist pick I was ready. I found myself going to see people who would become notorious, H. Rap Brown.

The brothers began to show up in parks (mine was Druid Hill Park) with congas and bongos. These marathon jam sessions would often feature poets and that’s when I first saw a poet named Gil Scott Heron in 1973(I recently discover he was working on his masters while living in Baltimore). He was riffing on something associated with Richard Nixon (I would later learn it was the H20gate Blues).

Traveling to college I was such a Sly Stone fan, I went to the music store to cop his latest album. While in the store they were playing “The Bottle” from Winter in America. I would purchase this album and take it back to my dorm. Hearing the Watergate Blues took me back to hearing him in the park. The Bottle however, became a signature song for those of us in 1975.

I would take my fascination with music and make it my major and career. This would allow me to receive much of Heron’s music. In 1976, when the world seemed consumed by the 200th anniversary of the nation, I questioned why any Black person would be celebrating. In a word I was bitter. To console my attitude was Gil,and Jean Claude T's, "Bicentennial Poet."

When my entire family went to see the tall ships at the Inner Harbor on the 4th of July, I refused to participate. I returned to school with lots of attitude. When the album Secrets arrived a song they were pushing was “Angel Dust.” I convinced a rock station to put an "Angel Dust" public service announcement by the artist into heavy rotation. He would come to Richmond on several occasions and I would get a backstage pass to hang out. Another song which got heavy rotation on the station was Johannesburg.

By the time I finished college, I was on my way to the West Palm Beach, Florida. In late 1982 album, Heron released an album called Reflections. Disco was starting to wane and here was this conscious album. R and B radio stations had given up on the artist. His music wasn’t commercial. Like many of his albums there was a spoken word song called "B-Movie" (a tribute to Ronald Reagan-I love the fact he refereed to him as Ray-gun). It was an interesting commentary on the Republican President.

In March of 1981, there was an assassination attempt on the president. Watching the event and listening to the song appeared to be the perfect sound track. Working at an ABC affiliate we had saved a lot of footage from the incident. I thought it would be curious to provide video of the shooting and the song. Initially, I was going to keep it for my personal files, but then I was asked to appear on a public affairs program at WPEC-TV with Anita Sewell. I felt I could use this with my appearance. The program was pre-taped and would air on a Sunday morning around 8 am. I thought nothing of it and did what I normally did. When I arrive on Monday the receptionist at the station stopped me. She let me know there were 10 messages on the switch board asking about the show and my appearance. I immediately made an extra copy and called the head of the West Palm Beach Urban League. I told him, "I need you to hold on to a tape in case there was a problem at the station." Later, Sewall would pull me aside and let me know she got a call from the owner. He’d received several phone calls from friends. She assured me it was nothing. I would leave the station before I could be questioned about the incident.

The Stevie Wonder Experience

Stevie Wonder’s affect on music is global. Wonder once open for the Rolling Stones and was booed. I think he learned from that experience. He was familiar with Scott because he appears on Songs in the Key of Life. The album wins a record number of Grammy awards and there is a credit to Scott on the album.

The follow-up to this album is Hotter Than July. In support of this album the plan was to ask Bob Marley and the Wailers to open the tour. Marley was diagnosed with cancer, the replacement Gil Scott and his band.

The album contains the most important song of Scott’s generation, "Happy Birthday," a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The song becomes an anthem which forced a reluctant President Reagan to sign legislation making January 15th, the official national holiday. The experience would change the spoken word artist. You can see a clip of their performance.

Reacquainted with an Artist

I step away from media in 1987, I come back in 1991. I make my return via WEAA-FM in Baltimore. As a jazz station we got a lot of jazz artist popping through the door. So you can imagine my surprise when we learned Heron was playing at a club in the city. I agreed to bring in my collection of former albums. Joe Lee was the music director. He reminded me that many of the discs had pops and scratches. I reminded him how I wore out the music.

When he arrived I was taken aback by his look. The vibrant young man who I saw in the 70's appeared frail. I would learn he battled a crack drug addiction. Despite his physical appearance, his performance was as good as I had seen him in the 70’s.

Off and on I would see articles about him. Several R and B, and Jazz artist of that era have found willing audiences in London and on the stages of Europe. Artist such as Marvin Gaye, Wilson Pickett, and Roy Ayers have found renewed interest overseas and returned to United States to find larger followings.

Picking up on Scott's work was the new genre of "Hip-Hop." While there was a wave of conscious rappers there were others who had dubious aspirations. The genre felt they owed something t o Scott and many sampled his work. They began calling him the “God Father of Rap.” It was a title he rejected as explained earlier.

Despite writing about the drug epidemic he wasn’t immune from it. He was arrested and went to jail.

Sometimes I get asked to attend events and the day gets the better of me. One of those invites came in 2009 with the "Poets in the Park" event. Gil Scott Heron was there, but I wasn’t. One of the young “Turks of Journalism,” Bobby Marvin captured the event.the http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifevent.

It is tough to measure the impact of Scott on generations of those who take to pen and pad, and try to capture what is going on. He was eloquent, poetic, professorial, and timely. He critiqued a society he thought was out of control and believed is still out of control. Truth is difficult to distract with spin. Scott knew this, and often confronted the conventional. Let the word go forth from here, how do you keep the revolution he saw alive because it will not be televised. Listen to one of his last interviews.


Charles Robinson, III