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

Camera and Pen
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 May 2022
Camera and Pen
A mural dedicated to Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the streets of Gaza. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)

                                                                                              Camera and Pen  

                                                                      (for Shireen Abu Aqleh and all truth-tellers)

                                                                “I pray you’ll be our eyes/And watch us where we go/

                                                                   And help us to be wise/In times we don’t know…”  

                                                                            —David Foster; Carole Bayer Sager

I.

New world’s birthing, crowning; Laboring
frantically— Truth-tellers, whistleblowers,
journalists— its fearless
Midwifes.

Warning us: The world can’t wait… Cannot sustain
Unsustainable warfare states
Warning us: Stretch stiff, atrophying dream muscles—
Seek antidotes for lethal circuses of strongmen, fat-cats,
Warlords, war-profiteers, bloodthirsty jackals, slimy
fossil Fools…

Our precious truth-tellers, whistleblowers, journalists hurl
themselves in crosshairs of snipers’ scopes. Close
distances between brains and hearts and assassins’
silencers.

Offer up loins, livers, guts to embassy butchers. Sip tea
with a little poison so that we may know… “What’s Goin’
On?”

So that we may know…precious truth-tellers, whistleblowers,
journalists…Never know when two men on motorcycle arrive,
Making good on thousands of threats. Never know when the
elevator door opens for the last time…

Camera and pen original sin—punishable by death— 55
slaughtered south of the border…And 46 slaughtered by
apartheid state agents…And 20 by czarist
carnage…And…

Silence: the sound of gangster states. Darkness: their view.
We ‘know' what they tell us of Desert Shield. Desert
Storm; Special Military Operation; mowing the grass; Cast
Lead;Iraqi Freedom—And other Orwellian operations
Mengele medicine men secretly perform on peace-loving
peoples…

II.

Jesus may have had his eye on the sparrow; but the 20yr old’s
Eye is on the glass.
He sees the world through his scope. She’s math.Wind. A dot.
The raid her trap. He watches; waiting in sand with rifle nick
named “Gritty Golda.”

Loner. Few friends. Below average kid. 8 weeks of sniper school.
Robot programmed to hate; to kill. Several weeks more of precision
shooting. 100 meters. 200 meters. A mile or more… Attention to
detail.

Enemy—not sister; niece; aunt; daughter; Mother—appears in his cross
hairs. Feminine neckline between helmet and vest. Two second flight—
crimson aerosol— “Without warning, without remorse…” as he was
Taught. Doing his job. Following orders.…His 54th confirmed kill.
“Thank you for your service…”

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Palestine
Shireen Abu Akleh

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


Related Stories

North-South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights , Black Alliance For Peace
The Black Alliance for Peace Calls for International Popular Mobilizations to Stop Israel’s Genocidal Campaign to Starve Palestinians to Death!
30 April 2025
The Israeli state’s starvation campaign in Gaza—backed by the U.S. and Europe—is a livestreamed genocide.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
U.S. and Israel Gangsterism Has Created a Hobbesian International State of Nature
23 April 2025
Gaza has exposed the West’s ‘human rights’ as a colonial farce.
Jehad Abusalim
"It Is Neither Death, Nor Suicide"
09 April 2025
For 76 years, Gaza has been has been the defiant heart of Palestinian resistance.
Palestine Chronicle Staff
ICRC, PRCS Condemn Israel’s Killing of Eight Medics, Five Rescuers in Gaza
02 April 2025
The medics who were killed were identified as Mustafa Khafaja, Ezzedine Sha’at, Saleh Moammar, Rifaat Radwan, Mohammad Behloul, Ashraf Abu Labd
Palestine Chronicle Staff
Gaza Journalists Hossam Shabat, Mohammed Mansour Killed in Israeli Airstrikes
25 March 2025
Journalists Hossam Shabat and Mohammed Mansour were killed in targeted Israeli airstrikes, as the death toll among media workers continues to r
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Israeli Fascism Is Fueled by U.S. and European White Supremacy
19 March 2025
The unlimited support western powers give to Israel is a continuation of colonial violence and white supremacy. The U.S.
Young child in Gaza
Nora Barrows-Friedman
Israel is Still Killing Three People Per Day in Gaza
19 March 2025
Israel has violated its ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Who Protects the People from the Human Rights Protectors?
26 February 2025
Can Palestinians get a little Humanitarian Intervention?
Tamara Nassar
Palestinians Forced to Flee US-Armed Israeli Military in West Bank
26 February 2025
Israel initiated a massive assault against the West Bank, displacing tens of thousands of people.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Erehwon (Shangri La Utopia)
12 February 2025
Baby, baby, sign our contract on Land Baby, baby, sign our contract on Land

More Stories


  • Jon Jeter
    Ready For the Revolution But Unable to See It: Blacks Recognize Racism But Lack Game Plan to Fight It
    30 Apr 2025
    Black communities once turned righteous fury into systemic change, but today’s outrage over slights like Shedeur Sanders’ NFL draft slide rarely sparks organized resistance. The blueprint for…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    March, March, March… (For Million Worker March and Brother Ray Quan)
    30 Apr 2025
    "March, March, March… (For Million Worker March and Brother Ray Quan)" is the latest from BAR's Poet-In-Residence.
  • Kai Cash
    Planting Seeds of Sovereignty: Lessons from the Sahel and Beyond
    30 Apr 2025
    When the West slaps on tariffs, it’s 'economic security'—but when the Sahel rejects exploitative deals, it’s called a threat. From Cuba to Burkina Faso, countries have fought for self-sufficiency:…
  • Sean L. Malloy
    How the creation of the ‘New Antisemitism’ was used to shield Israel and attack the Left
    30 Apr 2025
    Challenges to Zionism in the late 1960s and 1970s sparked an effort to redefine antisemitism focused on defending Israel while attacking the political Left. This resulted in the IHRA definition and…
  • Dave DeCamp
    Sixty-Eight Reported Killed by US Airstrike on African Migrant Facility in Yemen
    30 Apr 2025
    The detention facility appears to be the one that was previously targeted by the US-backed Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us