Thursday, June 30, 2011

Gil Scott Heron: Ghetto Hero



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGaRtqrlGy8

Last month saw the passing of a music legend and a true revolutionary. Gil Scott Heron was the son of a Jamaican immigrant to the United States, Gil Heron, who became the first ethnic player for Celtic F.C. Gil Scott Heron held massive influence over African American music, mixing the cause of social liberation with new developments in music and sound. He championed causes from the anti-war movement, anti-nuclear arms, anti-apartheid and black liberation. His commitment to the improvement of the lives of the people in his community made him an inspiration to many musicians and activists that followed in his path. An accomplished author, his belief in the cause of the downtrodden shone through in his literary work. Despite chronic illness in his later years he continued to perform and record with such artists as Kanye West. He will be remembered as a champion of oppressed people throughout the world.


1 comment:

Tom Shelley said...

It's also important to remember that Manning Marable passed away recently. He was one of the top scholars in African-American Studies and his death is a major loss for the Left in America. As I mention at- http://devlin-mcaliskey.blogspot.com/2011/04/rip-manning-marable.html there's reason to believe he, like many Black radicals, was interested in the North from a republican point of view.

Tom