From a reader:

On D'Angelo and the Vanguard

February 16, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

I really appreciated the Check It Out on D’Angelo and the Vanguard’s song “Charade” from their album Black Messiah. It is a very courageous and inspiring song and performance on Saturday Night Live in the wake of the police getting away with murder with impunity.

In the article you quote from the liner notes from where D’Angelo explains why he named the album Black Messiah, that it is not a religious reference, and he is not saying that he, D’Angelo, is the messiah, but that collectively “we are all that leader.” IF what D’Angelo meant is that there will be no savior and that if we want emancipation it is up to us to emancipate ourselves, then I would agree with his sentiment. A critical part of emancipating ourselves is fully appreciating the decisive role that vanguard leadership does play in leading the revolutionary struggle to emancipate all of humanity. This is all the more true when you have a revolutionary leader who is breaking new ground in summing up the history of the past revolutions and attempts to build a whole new society and charting the way to get to a world without oppression and exploitation. In today’s world this means getting with Bob Avakian.

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