Ashley Elizabeth Miller

After a week covering a contentious law enforcement reform bill, two songs ran on my mind this morning: “Gun” by Gil Scott-Heron and “Big Brother” by Stevie Wonder.

In the live link of Scott-Heron, he mentions former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo, who largely ignored civil rights and opposed public housing construction in ‘established neighborhoods’ (much like Robert Moses in New York City). Rizzo was a former Philadelphia police officer. His statue was removed from Philadelphia during the protests in 2020 following George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis.

Scott-Heron starts with an anecdote about Rizzo, who once proposed to snuff out guns from Philadelphia ghettos by placing cardboard boxes in fire departments for anonymous deposits. In six weeks one (broken) gun was turned in. Scott-Heron scoffs at Rizzo’s proposal and leads into his fitting tune: “Gun.”

Gun by Gil Scott-Heron (1981)

Everybody got a pistol; everybody got a .45

And the philosophy seem to be

At least as near as I can see

When other folks give up theirs, I’ll give up mine

This is a violent civilization;

If civilization’s where I am

Every channel that I stop on

Got a different kind of cop on

Killing them by the million for Uncle Sam

Saturday night just ain’t that special

Yeah, I got the Constitution on the run

’Cause even though we’ve got the right

To defend our land, got to understand

To get it in hand, about the guns

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis deployed enforcement to guard the coastline and “fend off Haitian refugees.” Officials turn to enforcement and promises of law-and-order to appease their constituents. It’s happening in New York City right now with Gov. Kathy Hochul deploying the national guard to man the subways. It’s happening across the world. Russia started their ‘presidential election’ voting yesterday with reports that Putin dissenters have already been detained. We’re living in George Orwell’s 1984: Governments using mass surveillance to wield power over a population through fear. But in the words of Alexei Navalny: “Do not be afraid. They feed off fear.”

Update (Aug. 27, 2024): I listened to a podcast recently that made me rethink my use of Orwell’s 1984 in my ending anecdote above. Shawn Elling’s The Grey Area talks about how it’s a widely misused phrase. And that 1984 and Big Brother are not even representative of Orwell, and almost insinuated that those who thought they were Orwell’s best works were below them. One thing that stuck with me from that (or a few): Orwell is not a known good writer, he’s just a good journalist who tells it like it is. He’s always been uncomfortable with big power differentials. He was a vocal critic of unjust power. He went to a posh boarding school in England and then returned home to India and became a police officer. His best work analyzes the differences between the wealthy and the poor. He did not see women as equals, illustrated by his shallow female equivalent to Winston in 1984.

Big Brother by Stevie Wonder (1972)

Your name is Big Brother

You say that you’re watching me on the tele

Seeing me go nowhere

Your name is Big Brother

You say that you’re tired of me protesting

Children dying every day

…

My name is secluded

We live in a house the size of a matchbox

Roaches live with us, from wall to wall.

You’ve killed all our leaders

[broadly by ’72: MLK, Bayard Rustin, JFK]

I don’t even have to do nothin’ to you

You’ll cause your own country to fall