Scared of Revolution

Umar Bin Hassan hasn’t even hit 70 yet, but he walks with difficulty and there’s sadness and fatigue in his eyes. As a member of The Last Poets, a group of performance poets who expressed the progressive spirit of the times starting in the late 1960s, he was a major influence on later hip-hop artists. In one of his best-known pieces, Ni****s are Scared of Revolution, he criticizes his black brothers’ destructive, macho behavior. Scared of Revolution concentrates on Hassan’s personal life, in which he still fights his demons. He grew up poor with a violent, unpredictable father, which in turn left him with an inferiority complex. In the course of his adult life, he has had a string of bad relationships and left children without a father figure. In his darkest hour, he also battled a crack addiction.

Directed by Daniel Krikke

Images

Cast

Omar Ben Hassan

Abiodun Oyewole

Bill Adler

Bill Laswell

Related

Come See Me in the Good Light

20257.2out of 10

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

20176.4out of 10

A Decade Under the Influence

20037.9out of 10

28 Up

19847.5out of 10

The Curse of the Dragon

19937.2out of 10

Oprah Winfrey Presents: When They See Us Now

20197.7out of 10

35 Up

19917.6out of 10

Drew: The Man Behind the Poster

20137.0out of 10

American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince

19786.7out of 10

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

20196.5out of 10

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction

20136.9out of 10

Naqoyqatsi

20026.2out of 10

56 Up

20127.2out of 10

Trainwreck: The Real Project X

20255.9out of 10

Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present

20127.3out of 10

The U.S. vs. John Lennon

20066.6out of 10