Lookin' At The Devil
if we must declare war, there are some bangin' anthems in our protest arsenal
2007-09-24
By VeTalle Fusilier
So, the Jena 6 protest day happened and we were roaming the streets, all dressed in black. And it dawned on me while I was thinking about the wicker throne and the buses going down south that that day had to be the start of “throwback Thursday” that I saw in a dream.
It seems that there is some insensitivity, if not overt evil, that manifests itself in our legal system. As I watched everyone landing in Jena, keeping it real in the visual sense, it made me think of the first song I heard about fighting back, the first time outside of church that I heard singing about beating the devil. It wasn’t Martin, or my Scout Master. It was late one pitch-black night in my bedroom, and I heard it through the walls. In the most polite terms, it was Sly singing “ Thank You”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJRNtBqHCyc
Afros, blond hair, bling, an irresistible pocket: don’t call it a comeback. Sly and the Family Stone have never left our minds. After being sighted here and there, and written about everywhere, he is coming back out. Hope and pray you get to see him. His much-anticipated tour is due to start sometime soon, and not a minute too late. We are down south protesting, got a black man and a woman running for president, and our burning appetite for funky inspiration hasn’t been this big in a while. And if we are lucky, young and old, shy and bold, can once again dance to the music, listen to the lyrics, and get right to the sounds of Sly Stone.
Sly was one of two cats that would make you call and alert people when he dropped a new 45, the other one being saint James Brown. Now I could just go through titles: “Stand”, Wanna Take You Higher”, "Everybody is a Star”, and it reads like a prescriptive for your life.
But most important is he is here and coming out with the new, as quoted in another magazine (Vanity Fair):
“ Give a boy a flag and teach him to salute / Give the same boy a gun and teach him how to shoot / And then one night, the boy in the bushes, he starts to cry / 'Cause nobody ever really taught him how to die."- We're Sick Like That.
So, if the front page of the paper looks like today’s version of our civil rights yesterday, and tomorrow can be influenced by thousands in all black, standing up in support of kids unjustly treated, then we can and should be blaring Sly, PE, and all our anthems loud. And if you can see a hero live, if he gets out on tour, then see Sly, he is still here, bowed, but not broken. Funky, and not finished yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dPTl85QI74
VeTalle Fusilier is a writer and producer in Washington, D.C. It’s pronounced VEE-tal FEW-suh-leer.
