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

Sunshine State of mind
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
06 Aug 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Just in case one misunderstood

Ground on which this patriot stood

Look up the town called Rosewood

“Creepy crackers” could, would, should!

 

Sunshine State of mind

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

Another bloody forget-me-not

Thickening, eternal war subplot

Spinning into a fierce FOX—trot

For capitalism, the deranged despot

Never ceasing to amaze and astound

Standing stolen Seminole ground

Never ceasing to amaze and astound

Standing stolen Miccosukee ground

 

Yet another patty-rollin’ patriot,

Or, super surveillance-state mascot

Celebrated Johnny-on-the spot

Making a name with a gunshot—

Just in case one misunderstood

Ground on which this patriot stood

Look up the town called Rosewood

“Creepy crackers” could, would, should!

 

Sista Nina sang “Mississippi Goddamn”

Her masterpiece framed like a telegram

So pithily denouncing our Uncle Sam

For his hypocrisy-demockkkracy scam

Now another Dixie inferno of Dante

Has become infamous for upping the ante

For playing most Black folks andante

By vindicating a rather vile vigilante

 

Whether by a single bullet hole

Or magically putting millions on parole

For a purge of the voters roll

When a $election’$ to be stole

Too south of the Mason-Dixon line

Blacks may as well be on the Rhine

Or in the crosshairs of Columbine—

Or even in occupied Palestine!

 

With bellicose bleating for the Pentagon

And ignorance of the Lorraine and Audubon

Masked by shrieks of “LeBron! LeBron!”

Soon there will be yet another Trayvon…

 

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


  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Firoze Manji’s, “Claim No Easy Victories: The Legacy of Amilcar Cabral”
    22 Oct 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Firoze Manji. Manji, a Kenyan with more than 40 years’ experience in…
  • Tunde Osazua
    The “Christian Genocide” in Nigeria: An Unmasking of a Neo-Colonial Weapon
    22 Oct 2025
    A false narrative of "Christian genocide" is being weaponized against Nigeria, which is itself victimized by western neo-colonial policies.
  • Imani Nile
    Every Winter, the Bronx Burns
    22 Oct 2025
    The cause of the explosion at Mitchel Houses in the South Bronx harkens back to the arson-for-profit schemes of the 1970s that caused mass destruction of Black and Latine communities. Decades later,…
  • Hanna Eid
    Data Centers and the AI Bubble
    22 Oct 2025
    The A.I. boom is on the verge of bursting like every other capitalist bubble. Financialization and speculation will result in another economic crisis.
  • Chris Gilbert , Cira Pascual Marquina
    ‘Fishing Provides for Everyone’: The Palmarito Afro-Descendant Commune (Part III)
    22 Oct 2025
    On the southern shore of Lake Maracaibo, communards sustain themselves by fishing, but just as much through practices of solidarity.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us