Zahra Gordon

so baba gil scott heron is writing from the ancestral realm. his memoir has just been released posthumously. like pariah, i’m going to endure another “wait” before i have a copy of this in my hands and its looking like i’m also going to have to wait for the “black scholar sound off.” 

when manning marable published an “updated” biography of malcolm x, i read at least a dozen articles from various black indpendent news services and blogs. everybody had theories and opinions. most were disappointed with the book but at least they were talking about it and producing constructive criticism. i’m surprised i haven’t seen that sort of frenzy around the last holiday.

i’ve read some reviews from mainstream publications and there’s mostly praise for the writing. (why wouldn’t there be? gil was a genius.) still some critics think that he did not speak enough about his personal life for this to be a memoir. according to summaries i’ve read, the memoir spends a lot of time focusing on gil’s involvement with stevie wonder’s campaign for a national american holiday dedicated to martin luther king jr. and other political activities. the reason people want to hear more about gil’s life is because it would be “juicy.” a story about drug addiction would sell while one about a black man in the struggle against white supremacy is well…to some people boring. reading some reviews reminded of an interview with gil i watched a couple years on a british programme called hardtalk. the woman doing the interview clearly wanted to vilify him in some way. she badgered him about drug use and other criminal allegations. i’m not sanctioning any of his actions but she really needed to be more empathetic.

gil is immensely intelligent and talented and he blossomed at a young age (by the time he was 23 he had published two novels and written many of his most memorable poems). i think that coupled with his understanding of black life in america and the need to change that (which he may have seen as an obligation) could’ve been too much pressure on his young shoulders. gil scott-heron is about so much more than drugs. his contribution to black music and poetry is formidable.