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

Birmingham On The Hudson
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 Aug 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

by Raymond Nat Turner

“Another generation of Gordon Gekkos

Parasitic, psycho, thug CEOs

Funny money men, where anything goes

Republi-crats and Demo-con echoes”

 

Birmingham On The Hudson

by Raymond Nat Turner

Jazz Ballad Chorus

Headed for CUNY with dreams and hope

'Til gettin' swept up in Rope-and-Grope

Tuggin' down his testes on the street

Body-slammed, cursed and browbeat 

Meeting N-Y's finest's fists and feets

Given blurred vision of hoods and sheets

Bruised, bloodied victim of violent scam--

The Hudson banks on Birmingham

The Hudson banks on Birmingham.... 

Hip Hop Feel

Bull Kelly cut fire hoses and cattle prods

For Glockmiesters runnin' in death squads

Protecting and serving corporate masters

The privilege and supremacy of alabasters 

Guarding Merrill-Lynch and Killer Coke

Fighting crime's mirrors and smoke

Drivin' out the poor from dusk to dark

Like smashing Spring in Zucotti Park

 

After the Schultzes seized Native Land

Manhattan real estate rose in demand

They cashed the stolen land into rent

Maintained violently by the 1%

 

In this Age Of Metastasized Cash-ism

Wall Street's Kleptocratic Stash-ism

Mayor Bilbo's businesses blooming brisk

His real estate-driven Stop-and-Frisk

American-styled apartheid pass law

Bilbo's Gestapo's a blue cat's-paw

 

After the Schultzes seized Native Land

Manhattan real estate rose in demand

They cashed the stolen land into rent

Maintained violently by the 1%

 

Another generation of Gordon Gekkos

Parasitic, psycho, thug CEOs

Funny money men, where anything goes

Republi-crats and Demo-con echoes

Putting our lives and health at risk

Run these cons through Stop-and-Frisk

Provocateurs and pundits in cahoots

Will look hip in orange jumpsuits!

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com.

Raymond Nat Turner (c) 2012 All Rights Reserved

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


More Stories


  • Ramzy Baroud
    Solidarity Is Not Enough
    19 Aug 2026
    Why the world must force accountability on Gaza now.
  • Hedelberto López Blanch
    A Shady Figure Will Preside Over Colombia
    19 Aug 2026
    Colombia's new president has ties to paramilitaries and drug traffickers, but Trump's endorsement swept his crimes aside as he embraces Washington's agenda, including enhancing relations with Israel…
  • Luis Britto García
    Venezuela Is Not Iran
    19 Aug 2026
    Venezuela is not Iran or Cuba, but those nations teach us that sovereignty is not given but is obtained through resistance. Venezuela must forge its own path toward sovereignty.
  • Natalia Junquera , Elena Reina
    Fergie Chambers, the Millionaire Activist Arrested in Ibiza: “I am a human rights advocate”
    19 Aug 2026
    The American's lawyers, led by Baltasar Garzón, denounce a "political persecution" by Trump for his support of Palestine. The government will have to decide whether to extradite him.
  • x
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Racist Policies End TPS and Criminalize Haitian Immigrants
    14 Aug 2026
    The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Trump administration cancellation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 350,000 Haitians in the U.S. TPS holders can no longer work legally, are…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us