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

Anthem of Banksters & War Profiteers
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
07 Sep 2016
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Why does San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick choose to sit when the Star Spangled Banner is played before football games? Evidently he is one of many who know the real intention and import behind those bombs bursting in air...

Anthem of Banksters & War Profiteers…

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

“I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”
—Marine General Smedley Butler at his retirement, 1933

I.

No Iroquois or Seminole National Anthem,

No Hawaiian or Mexican National Anthem,

Before bombers fly over stadiums schools and

social services were sacrificed for on altars of austerity;

No Ohlone or Navajo National Anthem,

No Iroquois or Seminole National Anthem,

No Hawaiian or Mexican National Anthem,

Before rockets red glare/bombs bursting in air

Over Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bosnia, Libya,

Panama, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen…and

Others, soon to be announced…

II.

The bleeding baby with blown off arms and stumps for legs

Dies in a ‘surgically struck’ hospital while you drain kegs?

Commander’s quarterback, bloody band wrapping his wrist,

Running old red zone, war-profiteer plays from his kill list?

Are other peoples’ children ‘collateral damage expendable—

Like leftovers lost when your fridge became undependable?

Why’s the fight for ‘our freedom’ usually where there’s oil?

Why’s it where mineral wealth’s buried beneath foreign soil?

How about freedom fighting without tanks, planes and boats—

Freeing: Fitzgerald, Peltier, Gilbert, Bell, Jamal, Shoatz…?

Ain’t ‘Incarceration Nation’ Slave State, by its other name—

Ain’t it the darker side of a barbaric, brain-damaging game?

Black players: interception, sack, fumble, loss from N-word

Inches from lynching by the intoxicated mob, the racist herd—

Of Hitler-loving, hair-trigger thugs, masquerading as fans…

Always seconds away from true team colors of their klan’s!

Raymond Nat Turner Š 2016 All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. Find more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

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


More Stories


  • Tulsa newspaper
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Tulsa Massacre Instigated by White Supremacist Media
    21 Jun 2024
    We are joined by Joe Torres to discuss the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the media’s role in instigating the atrocity.
  • Galveston, Texas
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black and Latino Voters in Galveston County Texas Fight for Voting Rights
    21 Jun 2024
    Yurij Rudensky joins us to discuss a lawsuit against Galveston County, Texas, brought by Black and Latino residents over its racially discriminatory district map.
  • Close Rikers
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    New York State Fails to Provide Oversight of Jails and Prison
    21 Jun 2024
    Melanie Dominguez joins us to discuss the conditions in New York State jails and prisons and explain why new legislation to expand and strengthen the State Commission of Correction is needed.
  • Black civil war soldiers
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Why Juneteenth Can Be Problematic
    21 Jun 2024
    Giving Juneteenth the imprimatur of a state stamp of approval makes it problematic, and no longer the people’s holiday it has been for nearly 100 years.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Uncle Sam Wants You, to Kill and Die for the Empire
    19 Jun 2024
    The Biden administration and congress work together in their efforts to secure what they think is U.S. domination. They are playing a dangerous game and now try to bring back a draft through sleight…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us