Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

2nd Amend Meant
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
26 Apr 2023
🖨️ Print Article
2nd Amend Meant
WLRN.org (Photo: Christian K. Lee)

                                                                                                                                    2nd Amend Meant

                                                                                                                  “…shotgun—shoot ‘em for he run now!”

                                                                                                                                     â€”Junior Walker

I.

Redlined, ‘white’ enclave. Un-ceded Hopewell,

Kansa, Mississippi, Missouri, Osage, Otos tribal

Land. Receiving settler soundbites of misinformation,

disinformation, 1/2 truth, big lies attached to Fox-box

IV—the prisoner trembles fearfully in padded cell of

‘Whiteness.’

Maybe he fears ghosts of gunpowder done real

estate Deals?

Maybe his MAGA-mind hears dispossessed people

pleading with him and cracker comfort tribe STOP

the chop—the so-called “tomahawk chop”—‘whites’

Insist on doing at Kansas City “Chiefs” football

games?

II.

Post-Bacon Rebellion—

2nd Amend Meant—

Every man, woman, child, cutthroat, killer,

sadist, torturer, overseer—slaver-wannabe

Infected with ‘whiteness’ could STOP you.

Question you about where you’re going…

About where you’ve been. Plantation/reservation

you’re coming from? Going to? Supposed to be on?

Blunderbuss, flintlock, musket, revolver trained on

temples—‘Whiteness’ questioned!

Questioned how dark skins got there. When they

got there. What was in their pockets? Never

questioning what makes ‘whiteness’ fear for…

sacrosanct Safety?

2nd Amend Meant—

Every man, woman, child, cutthroat, killer,

sadist, torturer, overseer-slaver wannabe

Infected with ‘whiteness’ could STOP you.

Detain you! Arrest you! Flog you! Lynch you—

come up with cruel, creative ways to crucify

or castrate you!

2nd Amend Meant—

They could cooly flex index fingers should you

Flinch!

Object!

Make eye contact! Speak when not spoken to!

Breathe when you’re not permitted to breathe!

III.

Black at wrong address, the boy was there

to pick twin brothers up. He picked up two

Bullets instead.

Had his lithe, young, gifted

Chocolate, promise-filled, bass clarinet-playing

body perforated

He knocked for an answer regarding the twins.

.32 caliber

questions tore through glass, ripped in

to his furrowed brow like a hot pin ball:

Do Black Lives really Matter? If so, how

much?

The ball bounced into a neighbor’s yard

and drew gunfire. The car turned into a

driveway and drew gunfire. The woman

approached a wrong car and drew gunfire.

Volleys of shots are 2nd Amend Meant for:

“How may I help you?”





Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at: GoFundMe and PayPal.

Gun violence
Second Amendment

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Cartoon comic about mass shottings
Danny Shaw
Murder Thy Neighbor A Recap of Mass Shootings in 2023: An Anti-Imperialist Perspective
20 December 2023
Mass shootings have become ubiquitous in the US, as part of a gun-obsessed culture that manufactures and exports violence around the world.
Javonte Alexander (left) and Basaime Spate (right), researchers at Center for Justice Innovation.
Shannon Chaffers
Driven By Fear: Why Some Brooklyn Youth Carry Guns
25 October 2023
Tropes about violent Black youth prevail but efforts to analyze the causes of firearm use are rarely seen.
Black People, Guns, and the Troubling Reaction to Ja Morant
Gus Griffin
Black People, Guns, and the Troubling Reaction to Ja Morant
21 June 2023
Ja Morant plays basketball in Tennessee, an "open carry" state with lose firearm regulations.
Why Americans Are Shot at the "Wrong House"
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Why Americans Are Shot at the "Wrong House"
26 April 2023
People in the U.S.
Freedom Rider: Gun Violence Starts at the Top
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Freedom Rider: Gun Violence Starts at the Top
21 April 2021
If the state reserves the right to commit mass murder no one should be surprised that the people follow suit.

More Stories


  • Janvieve Williams Comrie , Chevy SolĂ­s Acevedo
    Analysis: The Importance of Race, Class, and Territorial Sovereignty in Panama Amid Trump’s Canal Threats
    15 Jan 2025
    Before beginning his term in office, president-elect Donald Trump already proclaimed his intention to seize the Panama Canal. Understanding the importance of the canal and the history of…
  • Pavan Kulkarni
    67 Killed in Stampedes at Christmas Food Drives in Nigeria as IMF-Induced Hunger Engulfed Millions More in 2024
    15 Jan 2025
    After dozens died in stampedes, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu remarked, “We should just get on with it.” Tinubu’s IMF-prescribed policies have more than doubled food prices in the country,…
  • Ajamu Baraka on SOBH
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Ajamu Baraka on Fighting for Peace!
    15 Jan 2025
    Ajamu Baraka was a guest on the SOBH program on Press TV. He discussed his history of political organizing and activism, human rights, and the importance of the Black Radical Peace Tradition.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio January 10, 2025
    10 Jan 2025
    We talk about the killing of Robert Brooks by prison corrections officers and the need to close Rikers Island. We also discuss a recent Cuban conference dedicated to ending racism in that country.
  • Robert Brooks memorial
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Robert Brooks, Rikers Island and the Fight Against New York Incarceration
    10 Jan 2025
    Darren Mack, co-founder and co-director of Freedom Agenda, talks to us about the killing of Robert Brooks, who died after being beaten by corrections officers in a New York state prison, and the need…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us