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

What Would the Ancestors Say?
Margaret Kimberley, BAR editor and senior columnist
14 Nov 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

by Raymond Nat Turner

Baptist, baritone strains:

"I've been to the mountaintop,

But this is not the mountaintop”

 

What Would the Ancestors Say?

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

I know

I know

I know...

Harriet Tubman didn't slide

In and out of the slave south

Nineteen times, $40,000 reward

Hanging over her head like a

Scimitar, or Samurai sword;

Medgar didn't die in his driveway

Like a dog put down in the pound;

Malcolm didn't die on floor

Of the Audubon Ballroom;

King didn't die on chitlin' curcuit

Balcony of the Lorraine Motel;

Fred didn't die in his bed, under

Hooves of Chicago death squads

For tomfoolery---nappy-headed

Foolishness--- Negroz shrinking

To plantation Rip Van Winkles

Hung over on Ol' Massa's

Jim Jones Juice (January '09)

The eve of world revolution...

 

I know

I know

I know...

She would be leveling her pistol,

Leaving at least a half dozen dead

Negroz, after commanding "Forward,

Or die!"

 

I know

I know

I know...

He would be tongue-lashing

Negroz with his Harlem-tinged

Tough love: "You've been had,

You've been took, you've been

Hoodwinked, you've been bamboozled!"

 

I know

I know

I know...

He would be intoning in African,

Baptist, baritone strains:

"I've been to the mountaintop,

But this is not the mountaintop,

No, and I'm concerned that if you

Continue traversing this treacherous

Trail you're on, during the dark and

Difficult days ahead, not only will you

Not get to the mountaintop, you will

Find yourselves descending to depths

So low that it will require you taking an

Elevator up eighty-six floors; climbing

Forty flights of stairs to a sub cellar of

Sin, standing on a step ladder on your

Tiptoes, just to suck the Devil's dick---

 

No, I'm afraid I can't be your drum

Major on this one---

The drones must be stopped,

The satanic wars ceased, and

The barbaric killing of other peoples'

Babies ended---forever..."

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


  • Movement for Black Lives National Demands for Covid-19
    Movement for Black Lives
    Movement for Black Lives National Demands for Covid-19
    15 Apr 2020
    Read and save this comprehensive document from M4BL. A vision for Black lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice
  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of April 13, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of April 13, 2020
    13 Apr 2020
    US Could Safely Release Three Out of Four Prisoners
  • Bolivia Coup is Rooted in White Racist Backlash
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Bolivia Coup is Rooted in White Racist Backlash
    13 Apr 2020
    Last year’s “coup has to do with the racist backlash against President Evo Morales and the whole process of indigenous revalorization and empowerment,” said Dr.
  • Whites See Black Kids as “Disturbing the Peace”
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Whites See Black Kids as “Disturbing the Peace”
    13 Apr 2020
    Sky-high rates of suspension of Black students are caused by a pervasive “system of anti-Blackness” rooted in slavery and Jim Crow, said Dr.
  • San Francisco Sends 40 Percent of Jail Inmates Home
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    San Francisco Sends 40 Percent of Jail Inmates Home
    13 Apr 2020
    Chesa Boudin, the leftish district attorney for San Francisco, claims to have reduced the jail population by nearly 40 percent since the onslaught of the epidemic.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us