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
  • omnibus

Bankrolling blu klux klans? 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 Oct 2020
Bankrolling blu klux klans? 
Bankrolling blu klux klans? 

Rhythms of red, white, blue ‘party’
lights flashing beneath screaming
sirens; The rush of warm crimson
drawing 2, 4, 6, 8, 10—and then some…

Robotic legs, arms—possessed—
punching, kicking a fetal fraction—
prone red shirt; black face; fractured
eye socket, exploding eyeball; broken
ribs drowning in swarming blue savagery:
The viral video sparks flashbacks to a few
of my… narrow escapes…

“Keep still, punk, or I’ll bust 
your damn head open!” 
13 year-old reaching for wallet,
complying with ID ‘command…’

“You been runnin’, haven’t you, boy?” 
15 year-old jogging to get home before
Curfew; before cuffing and seating in
black and white backseat…

“Someone robbed a store down the street—
your jacket and cap match the description;”
Gun in gut of a
20 year-old strolling home from library…

Back to the viral video—
infested with dozens of loitering,
swaggering, threatening gun-thugs
Ambling, dawdling, strutting,
prancing, parading, promenading,
putzing ‘bout—on our clock—blocking
Residents from their neighbor’s slowly 
fading cries for help…

Are we financing the framers—“Finding 
Fathers—“ finding evidence locker guns, 
knives, drugs—magically appearing at 
shootings—or in poor peoples’ pockets?

Are we funding the epithets fired through
donut holes—like ‘rubber’ bullets shred-
ding the1st Amendment?

Are we subsidizing six-figure salaries and health-
care for killers masquerading as ‘peace’ officers?
Are we paying pensions for the privilege of ’10-
ring’ targeting on lethal 9-1-1 calls?
Are we suckers and losers, bankrolling blu klux
klansmen—death squads slaughtering 1,000 a year—
Sucking up .50 cents of our every dollar?

Are we underwriting Rotten Orchard bad 
apples protecting/serving the1%? Are we
bankrolling badges breaking bones—“earning 
ink—” on our dime?

Are we bankrolling Banditos, Riders, Regulators,
Executioners, Vikings, Spartans, Grim Reapers,
Jump Out Boy-white supremacist dinosaurs—use-
less as milk pails beneath bulls?
The Gloves Davis, Foot Doctor Siapnos, Choker
Vasquezs, Clubber Williamses of the world?

Are we blinded by Blue Ribbon Commissions
crooning “Body-Cam” and “Better Training
Blues,” professing to teach Al Capone etiquette;
Andrew Jackson Native American Medicine—
Hitler Torah?
Or, are we ready to return thin blu lines of inked
arms, bent badges to 1850s enclaves—Abolishing,
Dismantling, disassembling, de-
constructing ‘collective’ EXTORTION agreements?

© 2020. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.       

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com   .

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

poetry

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise In Poetics to Ra
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Reflections after the June 12th March of Disarmament, Sonia Sanchez, 1982
18 December 2024
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Love My Black Job
11 September 2024
Love my Black Job— Black Student Union Job! Hired at L.A. City College As “The Peoples Poet!”
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Protest for Palestine at the White House
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Trigger Warning
22 November 2023
Trigger Warning Palestine’s the Answer— What was the Question?
Another June 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Another June 1
07 June 2023
                                       
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
16 February 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.

More Stories


  • Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    Independence for Whom? Peruvian People Reject Neocolonial Boluarte Coup Regime
    13 Aug 2025
    Two centuries after independence, Peru remains shackled by empire. As the U.S.-backed Boluarte regime tightens its grip, the people take to the streets, demanding sovereignty, justice, and the return…
  • ELAPRE
    There is no Revolution Without Revolutionary Consciousness
    13 Aug 2025
    Revolution requires more than violence—it demands collective awakening. Haiti’s crisis exposes the danger of hollow slogans masquerading as liberation.
  • Youssef Fares
    Survivors of Aid Massacres: Israel Is Eroding Gaza’s Social Fabric
    13 Aug 2025
    As the world condemns indiscriminate bombing, Israel continues to commit genocide by social erosion. The systematic dismantling of Gaza's social foundations through massacres at aid lines,…
  • Alan MacLeod
    The CIA Built Hundreds of Covert Websites. Here’s What They Were Hiding
    13 Aug 2025
    As governments worldwide crack down on "foreign disinformation", America’s most powerful intelligence agency has been caught running the largest known network of fake media outlets.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio August 8, 2025
    08 Aug 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss a protest exposing corporate media’s collusion with the U.S. and Israeli governments in reporting genocide and how ICE is violating the law and human rights with…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us