“Our accomplishments show what kind of people we are.” PeopleKindShowsAccomplishment Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“I was born in Chicago, but I was raised in a town called Jackson, Tennessee. And a lot of these changes that were necessary and talked about it as important have been made, like, people go to school where they want to go. They work for equal pay, they work for - they can go school and have an equal shot at a job.” PeopleWantHas BeensMadeImportantSchoolJobsBornPayEqualShotsTownsRaisedChicagoTennesseeEqual Pay Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“I would say if you are familiar with our history and the history of our art and literature that you see a clear cut pattern of people wanting to contribute, not only artistically, but in some practical purpose, for the benefits of the community.” PeopleIfsArtPurposeLiteratureCommunityClearCuttingBenefitsPatternsPracticalsFamiliar Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“Paul Robeson once said that the artist has the responsibility to either help liberate the community or further oppress it. And I think that when Eldridge Cleaver wrote it down it was interpreted as his, but there's a history of people saying things of that nature and meaning it. And what I do is in that tradition, in that mode.” PeopleThinkingSaidHelpingArtistCommunityResponsibilityTraditionCleaver Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“The truth is that in this country you here you're more likely to be harassed, hurt, or killed if you're a minister speaking about progress for Black people than if you are a sure enough revolutionary.” PeopleIfsCountryEnoughBlackHurtProgressTruth IsMinistersRevolutionaryBlack People Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“You see Martin Luther King is dead and Huey Newton is not. And Malcolm X is dead and Bobby Seale is not. And Vernon Jordan was shot. The thing that revolutionaries, or even people who want to claim they're revolutionaries, often forget is that it doesn't make no difference what kind of wardrobe you wear, and if you speak up about Black people doing better you just risked your life.” PeopleIfsWantKindSpeakBlackDifferencesForgetKingsShotsClaimsRevolutionaryBlack PeopleLutherNewtonWardrobeJordan Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“I think that the more people who speak out, and say things and take stands on positions that will better our community, the better off each and every other individual artist or otherwise, will be.” PeopleThinkingArtistIndividualSpeakCommunityPositionBetter OffOur CommunitySpeaks Out Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“You can have a poem like "B-Movie" and sum up thirty conversations that people have had on the subject, but I wrote it down, and other people didn't.” PeopleSubjectsConversationDown AndThirty Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“When we were doing the "Angel Dust" thing we got information from the National Institute of Drug Abuse because we knew that if we went out and said something about angel dust people were going to ask questions about it and we wanted to be sure we had all the information to deal with it when those questions came up. So it's all a question of being as prepared as possible out front, so that if you are going to deal with information it'll be correct. A lot of people won't check it out but some people will.” PeopleIfsSaidWantedAsksDealsFrontsInformationDrugAngelAbusePreparedChecksDustInstituteDrug Abuse Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“I think a whole lot of stuff gets by people - I could name half a dozen groups that do songs that are openly supportive of experimentation with drugs, nobody ever said anything to them.” PeopleThinkingSaidWholeSongNamesStuffHalfGroupsDrugDozenSupportiveExperimentation Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“I find it not just strange but almost ridiculous that people could take a song like the one I was doing and interpret it is corroding anything. Folks have the feeling that oftentimes if you don't talk about something it will go away.” PeopleIfsFeelingsSongStrangeFolksRidiculousGoing Away Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“I try not to take people who haven't really thought out what they're doing too seriously. I try not to let them get in the way of what I feel I need to do.” PeopleWayNeedsFeelsTryingHavens Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“I don't think people in power have the potential to do anything like that to me. I feel as though as long as our music is available, folks are going to hear it.” PeopleThinkingFeelsLongMusic IsFolksAvailable Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“We understand what the difference is between what we understand and what the community understands about what we're doing because they have supported us long enough for me to stay out here, while other people who are doing other things have not. A lot of people have trouble pinning down what it is we do and how. But we don't have any trouble with that. As long as that's their problem, it's their problem.” PeopleLongEnoughProblemCommunityDifferencesTrouble Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“The way you get to know yourself is by the expressions on other people's faces, because that's the only thing that you can see, unless you carry a mirror about.” PeopleKnowsWayFacesExpressionMirrorsKnow Yourself Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“You know what has made me the happiest I've ever been? Seeing my son and daughter graduate from college. More than wanting them to be educated, I wanted them to be nice people. To see that they have become both is just a wonderful thing.” PeopleKnowsMadeWantedMotherNiceWonderfulSeeingCollegeSonDaughterEducatedMy SonGraduatesBeing NiceWonderful ThingsNice PeopleSon And Daughter Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“Every once in a while, you live long enough to get the respect that people didn't want to give while you were trying to become a senior citizen.” PeopleWantGivingTryingLongEnoughCitizensSeniorSenior Citizen Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“I've always had questions about what it meant to be a protester, to be in the minority. Are the people who are trying to find peace, who are trying to have the Constitution apply to everybody, are they really the radicals? We're not protesting from the outside. We're inside.” PeopleTryingConstitutionRadicalMinoritiesMeant To BeFinding Peace Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“The way you get to know yourself is by the expression on other people's faces.” PeopleKnowsWayFacesExpressionKnow Yourself Author:Gil Scott-Heron
“Everything that's bad for you catches on too quickly in America, because that's the easiest thing to get people to invest in, the pursuits that are easy and destructive, the ones that bring out the least positive aspects of people.” PeopleAmericaEasyAspectPursuitDestructive Author:Gil Scott-Heron
