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


  • Ray McGovern
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Ray McGovern Analyzes U.S. Policy in the Middle East
    02 Feb 2024
    Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and Co-Founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), joins us from Raleigh, North Carolina to discuss an attack on a U.S. base in Jordan…
  • Abolish Slavery National Network
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Abolishing Prison Slavery in the U.S.
    02 Feb 2024
    We discuss this the 13th Amendment with Max Parthas, National Campaign Coordinator and Founding Member of the Abolish Slavery National Network. He joins us from South Carolina to discuss his…
  • Saturday Free Schhool
    Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Politics and Pennsylvania in the 2024 Election Cycle - Part 2
    02 Feb 2024
    Dr. Anthony Monteiro joins us from Philadelphia to talk about Black politics in Pennsylvania and the 2024 election cycle.
  • UNRWA
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    U.S. Ramps Up War Crimes After ICJ Rules Against Israel
    31 Jan 2024
    The Biden administration colluded with Israel to slander the United Nations Relief Works Agency for Palestine in anticipation of the ICJ ruling against Israel on the charge of genocide. Washington is…
  • Margaret Walker
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: The Black Nation interviews Margaret Walker, 1982
    31 Jan 2024
    Margaret Walker was an intellectual of the highest order. Her uncompromising critiques of Black art, Black leadership, and the US racist oligarchy are sorely needed today.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us