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

The Unemployment Question(s)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Feb 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Livin’ on nothin’, while hunger works full time

No wonder, some brothers stumble into crime.

 

The Unemployment Question(s)

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

Licking bitter flaps on unemployment envelopes

somewhere under the rainbow

Lies

true hues

in bright Red,

Black

and dark Blues:

 

Drawin’ unemployment’s like drawin’ straws

Drawin’ unemployment’s like drawin’ straws

We come up short under rich folks’ laws.

 

Livin’ on nothin’, while hunger works full time

Livin’ on nothin’, while hunger works full time

No wonder, some brothers stumble into crime.

 

And the rich cry, “...crime, crime, crime” every day

And the rich cry, “...crime, crime, crime” every day

While cocaine’s trafficked by the C-I-A.

 

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

Stack-o-papers to fill out, askin’ dumb shit!

 

“State here the reason you’re out of work.”

“Answer the following then report to the clerk.”

“Will you accept work in your usual trade?”

“What’s your income with benefits paid?”

“Do you own a farm, or a ranch?”

“Do you have a savings? What branch?”

“Did you look for work all this past week?”

“Where did you go, with whom did you speak?”

“Are you a citizen of the U.S.?”

“If answering ‘No’, then why not ‘Yes’?”

“Have a seat and wait to be seen”

“Any questions about what we mean?”

“Anyone in line who voluntarily quit?”

“Step out — go over there and sit”

“Sorry, you can’t be seen until ten —”

 

“Provided, you fill this out for WIN...”

 

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

Appointment

with

revolution

When we fit…

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 1986 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


  •  Criminal Neglect of Mumia’s Health
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Criminal Neglect of Mumia’s Health
    20 Apr 2021
    Supporters of Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, held a press conference last Thursday demanding medical treatment for his damaged arteries, yet Pennsylva
  • Maroons Sought Freedom on Ocean Currents
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Maroons Sought Freedom on Ocean Currents
    20 Apr 2021
    Justin Dunnavant, a post- doctoral scholar who has researched maroon cultures in the Caribbean, Central America and African, said “there is a Black history that occurs on the ocean
  •  Blacks and the US: a History of Resistance
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Blacks and the US: a History of Resistance
    20 Apr 2021
    The United States has been in constant conflict with its Black population, which has been the greatest source of its wealth, said Dr.
  • Freedom Rider: Vaccine Passports in a Failed State
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Vaccine Passports in a Failed State
    15 Apr 2021
    The non-vaccinated can be smeared and equated with MAGA hat wearing Trumpers, regardless of their religious or political affiliations.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    åEDITORIAL: Racism, Fascism, and Political Murder: Kathleen Cleaver, September 14, 1968
    15 Apr 2021
    Panthers and their radical Black contemporaries are now the stuff of Hollywood -- but with more leather jacket than political substance. The Review Team offers some historical correctives.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us