When The Revolution Comes by The Last Poets (1970)

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The Last Poets

When The Revolution Comes is a song from The Last Poets' album The Last Poets and as its 11th track from the album. The song was released in June 1970 through Douglas Records, the album reached number 29 on the Billboard 200 albums charts and peaked at 3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in the United States. [1]

Key Lyrics

When the revolution comes

Transit cops will be crushed by the trains after losing their guns

and blood will run through the streets of Harlem

drowning anything without substance

When the revolution comes [2]

Black Empowerment

When the revolution comes

Jesus Christ is gonna be standing on the corner of Lennox Ave and 125th St trying to catch the first gypsy cab out of Harlem, when the revolution comes

As in the song’s lyrics, this means that even a white supremacy ideology including religion had been given to black people with a white Jesus Christ. When the African-American people have a revolution, they will adopt a Pan-Africanism ideology.

The white Jesus Christ from the supremacy ideology, the enemy gave black people will be destroyed. This means, white Jesus Christ that helped black people feel inferior and will be on the corner of Lennox Ave & 125 St in Harlem looking for a gypsy cab to escape the wrath of the revolution. [3]

In one interview, Umar, one of the personnel from The Last Poets said that the song was about loving one another and standing up against police brutality, “We talked about loving one another and standing up against police brutality; we were trying to uplift the black community,” says Umar. “People would come and see us perform in Harlem, in Brooklyn; everybody loved The Last Poets because we were poets of the people. We had that connection with the community that a lot of groups simply didn’t have.” [4]

References