Africa Is a Country

'Three soldiers from Somalia'

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

'Three soldiers from Somalia'

By
Sean Jacobs

I reread that infamous 2010 New Yorker profile. of Gil Scott Heron earlier today. I was struck by the conclusion where Scott Heron tells reporter Alec Wilkinson about a novel he wants to write:

I have a novel that I can write … It’s about three soldiers from Somalia. Some babies have been disappearing up on 144th Street, and I speculate later on what happened to them and how they might have been got back. These guys are dead, all three, and they have a chance in the afterlife to do something they should have done when they were alive … I have everything except a suitable conclusion.

It’s also worth reading Greg Tate’s obituary of Gil Scott Heron here.

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