No Knock by Gil Scott-Heron (1972)

From blackwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American soul and jazz poet, a guitarist and novelist, known mainly for his work as a spoken word artist in the 1970s and 1980s. His joint projects with guitarist Brian Jackson included a musical blend of swing, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical material on the social and political problems of the time, both in Scott-rapping Heron's and melismatic vocal styles. His own word was "bluesologist", which he described as "a scientist who is concerned with the roots of the blues." [1]

Key Lyrics

link=File:Gil_Scott-Heron_%22Free_Will%22_Album_Cover.jpg

“But, um, no-knock, the law in particular, was allegedly, um, aheh

Legislated for black people rather than, you know, for their destruction

And it means, simply, that authorities and members of the police

Force no longer have to knock on your door before entering

They can now knock your door down

It's no-knock”


“No knocked on my brother Fred Hampton

Bullet holes all over the place

No knocked on my brother Michael Harris

And jammed a shotgun against his skull” [2]

Black Racism in the Era

Police aggression, crime, and self-exploration are all present in Scott-Heron’s songs, just as they were on Scott-previous Heron's albums. "No Knock" is a reference to a police procedure that does not require knocking before entering a building. [3]

Scott-Heron wrote 'Angola, Louisiana' for Gary Tyler, an African-American youth generally viewed as wrongly charged with murder, after a boy was shot after a white mob assault on a school bus, in the wake of heightened racial tensions after forced integration into a fractious society. In "'No Knock'", wrote in a similar vein, Scott-Heron regretted the recent legislation that allowed the police to enter residents' homes anytime they pleased. In the background of Nixon's war on drugs, many see this as a justification to unfairly target black areas in the interest of drug control, with the policies triggering significant unrest between the police and black communities.

It's clear how the Nixon and Trump pair did nothing to repair the deep cracks in the bond between the state and its black people, from the 'Southern Policy' that used Southern bias to vote, to Trump's disdainful remarks regarding Charlottesville that seem to have a similar intent. Yet again, the crux of the Scott-Heron warning remains true decades later.

While many of his songs were widely dismissive of white American conservatives, he was not so rooted in his own community's interest to disregard those who may have been politically disagreed with him, but who were still suffering in the frozen America of the 1970s. [4]

Supreme Dow, executive director of the Black Writers Museum, is joining the Germantown Revolutionary Festival by dedicating the entire month at the museum to Gil Scott-Heron. Dow kicked off the event Saturday, Oct. 3 with five different stations representing Heron’s work, music, and message. Heron’s “No Knock” song stands as an honorary station to Breonna Taylor, , a Louisville woman killed in her home by police on March 13, 2020, and represents the current struggles of endless police brutality.

When you come in you’re immediately greeted with Gil, who he was and how to go into making the music that he did,” said Aigner Autry, art history and Africology student at Temple University and intern at the Black Writers Museum. Each station is categorized based on Heron’s songs. “The narrative starts with Africa. That’s where we come from. Next, we wanted to have an era about the Black Panther movement. It relates to what Gil was speaking of in his song.[5]

Reference

  1. Gil Scott-Heron. en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  2. Gil Scott-Heron Lyrics. azlyrics.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  3. Free Will (Gil Scott-Heron album). en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  4. Campbell, Billy. Who Will Survive In America? Gil Scott-Heron’s Perfect Prophecy. November 16, 2017. rownedinsound.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.
  5. Belefanti, Chantale. Museum honors genius of jazz's Gil Scott-Heron. Oct 12, 2020. phillytrib.com. Retrieved on Feb 4, 2021.