by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner
Since that November
Night in ’08, Negroz
Ain’t been straight…
On the Night Negroz lost their minds…
by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner
Perhaps it’s the crack
I smoked, the lines
I snorted, the ludes
I dropped, the shit
I shot, the rot gut
I gulped on the A
Train hurtling uptown
That’s agitating me—
Perhaps I’m dating
Myself—lubricant in
Right hand—fantasizing
About yesteryears
African- Americans walked
Vertical like asymmetrical
Street soldiers, sacred
In tens of thousands,
Instead of slithering on red,
White and blue bellies,
Like silly putty-headed
Bamboozled babies—
Their un-fused Fontanel lobes
Parker Bros. playthings…
I recall with horror
That November night
Negroz lost their minds
As if they’d had a huge
Hit of Goebbels shit!
Eyes wide, brains fried
Frostbitten feet, freeze-
Dried tears, hallucinating…
Since that November
Night in ’08, Negroz
Ain’t been straight…
Somethin’ spellbinding about
Smoke & mirror Mc Daddy
Hawkin’ worthless “Yes,
We can” buttons and
T-shirts, counterfeit change
In trillion dollar deals
For carriers, cluster
Bombs, Hellfire Missiles,
As world champion
Purveyor of violence
Something bewitching ‘bout
Bankster bailouts and
Being in back pockets
Of Fortune 500
Pharmaceutical and
Insurance companies—
Somethin’ intoxicating
About clean coal ties,
Pipeline binding, ALEC,
The brothers Koch and
Trade agreements off-
Shoring jobs Negroz need!
I’m mad at Negroz,
Yet LOVE Negroz MADLY
I pray they grow up
& come down with some
Adult politics…
On this African Liberation Day, we revisit Amiri Baraka’s 1972 communiqué calling for Black people to struggle for Pan-African unity while also registering our anger at the “pathology and traitor…
The US is falsely accusing Ethiopia and Eritrea of hindering food aid and committing genocides in the ongoing war in Tigray.
Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh shared a birthday. They also shared an internationalist ideology, a commitment to liberation for all people, and a deep understanding of how racist structures operated…
The Black Alliance for Peace marks African Liberation Day with a statement condemning the latest US troop deployment to Somalia.
Boots on the ground in Buffalo
