Partially because I haven't been able to find a free transcript on the web, and also partially because we should all be believers in our own cause, I have here transcribed a recording by Gil Scott Heron called "Black History"
As soon as I figure out how, I'll post the audio file itself.
"[fade in]...the more research I did the more I found that there was a 200 year legacy of poetry that had been fashioned along ideas that correlated with the blues went back from 1789 that chronicled our lives and our life experiences here in this country and the more I found out about our own history the more I was disappointed how little we had been informed of our history, so it made me want to put a poem together to explain what had been overlooked, and the poem is called "Black History":
... [I]'said ...
I was wondering about our yesterdays and started digging through the rubble,
and to say the least someone went to a hell of a lot of trouble.
To make sure that when we looked things up we wouldn't fare to well,
and we could come up with totally unreliable portraits of ourselves.
But I compiled what few facts I could, I mean, such as they are,
to see if we could shed a little bit of light and this is what I got so far.
First, white folks discovered Africa and they claimed it fair and square,
Cecil Rhodes couldn't a'been robbin' nobody, cause hell he said there wasn't nobody there.
[laughter]
White folks brought all the civilization, they said wasn't none around,
cause how these folks over here be civilized when they didn't see nobody writin' nothin' down.
And to prove their all their suspicions, well, it didn't take too long,
they found out there were whole groups of people, in plain sight, runnin' around without much clothes on, that's right! -
- there was women and men and young folks and old folks, well righteous folks just covered their eyes, and no time was spent considering their environment, they just said, 'hell no, this here, this ... this ain't civilized"
And another way they knew the folks was backwards, at least this is how we were taught, is that,unlike the very civilized people in Europe [laughter], these black groups actually fought.
and yes there was some crude implements, and yes they had primitive art, and yes they were masters of hunting and fishing and courtesy came from the heart.
and yes there was love 'n medicine, n' religion n' inter-tribal communication by drum, but no papers and pencils and other utensils, and hell these folks never even heard of a gun!
So this is why the colonies came, to civilize the land, the dark continent had copper and gold and the discoverers had themselves a plan.
They would discover all the places with promise, you didn't need no titles and deeds, and then you would appoint people to make everything legal, to sanction the trickery and the greed.
And back in the jungle if the natives got restless, well you call that Guerilla Attack. [laughter] And you never describe that some folks might 'a got wise and decided they was gonna fight back.
But still we are victims of word games, semantics is always a bitch, places once called underdeveloped and backwards, they now call them a' mineral rich.
[applause]
But still it seems like the game goes on with unity is just beyond our reach. Libya and Egypt used to be in Africa, they've been moved to the Middle East.
[laughter and applause]
There are examples galore I assure you, but if the interpreting was left up to me, I'd be sure every time, folks knew this version wasn't mine, which is why it's called His- Story-. thank you."
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