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

Malcolm X Tic-Tac-Toe in the Age of…Austerity?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 May 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer

 

Malcolm X Tic-Tac-Toe in the Age of…Austerity?

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

Vertical, diagonal, horizontal moves

Of Malcolm X, martyr, giant, live on

Like simple grid, paper and pencil games

Of Noughts and Crosses, 3-in-a-row—

Tic-Tac-Toe in the age of… Austerity

 

X, like exciting, expanding, extending,

X, like exalting, exemplary, example,

Excelling, exceeding— revolutionary as

Exponential, unlimited—far as you dare!

 

O, as in hollow, phony, posture, nothing!

O as diversion, like COINTELPRO, Psy-

Op or false consciousness like blue-collar

Workers masquerading as middle-class!

 

3-in-a-row, X versus O

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer!

 

Africom boots on the Congo

Banksters bagging big dough

Mother Africa their hoe

A peculiar quid pro quo

Slaves cheering status quo

Their beer full of GMO—

Madison Avenue mojo!

 

3-in-a-row, X versus O

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer!

 

Negroz go pianissimo

Fiery X’s blocked by O,

Rich white house Negro,

Attorney Generalissimo

Super of Guantanamo

Teachers rise against O

Working-class Tic-Tac-Toe!

 

3-in-a-row, X versus O

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer!

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2013 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


  • Black Politics in San Francisco, Part 2
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Black Politics in San Francisco, Part 2
    16 Sep 2022
    Jemma Decristo is a community organizer in San Francisco, where a Black mayor, London Breed, continues neo-liberal and pro-police policies and where gentrification and displacement continue. She…
  • FBI Surveillance of Aretha Franklin
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    FBI Surveillance of Aretha Franklin
    16 Sep 2022
    Afeni is a community organizer and writer who is co-authoring an article soon to appear in Rolling Stone about FBI surveillance of Aretha Franklin. Afeni is joining us from Washington DC.
  • The U.S. Instigates Conflict in the Horn of Africa
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The U.S. Instigates Conflict in the Horn of Africa
    16 Sep 2022
    Thomas C. Mountain is an historian and educator known as a widely published independent journalist in Africa. He explains U.S. interference against Ethiopia and Eritrea and how the TPLF, Tigray…
  • Decolonizing the Mind
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Decolonizing the Mind
    14 Sep 2022
    The word decolonization should not be treated as trendy slang. It describes an important political and psychological process. Media and state attempts at indoctrination show just how…
  • ESSAY: Behind the Mau Mau: George Padmore, 1953
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Behind the Mau Mau: George Padmore, 1953
    14 Sep 2022
    George Padmore’s account of British rule and Black resistance in Kenya reminds us that “Queen” Elizabeth is both the symbol and beneficiary of the savagery of colonialism and white supremacy.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us