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 fire this time … (as Amiri tolt me)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
29 Jan 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Satellite image of LA fires
A nighttime satellite image shows wildfire burning homes and buildings in Los Angeles County’s Altadena region on Jan. 8, 2025. Satellite image: ©2025 Maxar Technologies.

“Scratch a lie—find a thief !”

—Aretha Robinson (Ray Charles’s Mother)

100 mph winds fan flames, dancing, skipping,
Leaping—3 stories high!           Thousands of
Firefighters from as far away as Mexico and
Canada— boots on the ground— 10 toes down

Cali’s burning! Yet, the cruel, cutthroat
Capitalist cult chants,
“Drill, baby, drill!” And blows blame
Game woke smoke up flimflammed fannies

Cali’s burning! Yet, the cruel, cutthroat
Capitalist cult chants,
“Drill, baby, drill!” And conditions Golden
State aid on southern-style voter suppression

Cali’s burning! Yet, fossil fools pretend to fight
Fire with FOX-box flamethrowers in desert
Hearts of evaporated empathy … And misdirect
The ‘search' for fault for The Fire This Time …

Swear on the full pardon of the Horned Shaman—
Teller didn’t tell the American Petroleum Institute in ‘59
Fossil fuels would gift weird weather patterns, droughts,
Fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes writ large worldwide

Couldn’t have been Union Oil, GM, Goodyear Rubber, and
‘Developer’ decisions 100 years ago—like scrapping fast,
Fume-less, electric street cars for smog-mobiles! Nah, it had
To be the fault of Black bitch mayor/dyke-DEI-hire fire chief!

If … snaking freeways every direction possible; If  bumper-
To-bumper traffic of tailpipes vomiting carbon's harmful; If
Greenhouse gassing generations claiming the City of Angels’s
Dangerous— it must be the mayor’s and fire chief’s fault!

Must’ve been Mexican murderers and rapists ripping up a
Thousand miles of track from the country’s largest electric
Rail transit network! Yeah, they wanted jobs of workers the
Trains moved daily to plants, factories and offices citywide.

Yeah, must’ve been the Mexicans who sold streetcars for
Scrap metal and dropped others in waters off Redondo Beach.
Had to be the mayor, the Mexicans and fire chief who made
LA Times’ owner Chandler propagandize against streetcars!

Why, no way would big oil, auto, rubber, road builders, realtors,
Land speculators, developers—
Force white folks’ white flight to suburbs in solitary smog-mobiles!
Must’ve been the mayor, Mexicans and fire chief starting ‘LA Sprawl’

Gotta be the mayor’s fault/fire chief’s fault—not snatching more
Money from firefighters for more cops fighting fire with gunfire!
More good guys with guns! (They’re eating the dogs— poisoning
The blood! Build the wall! It’s a Firewall!) “Drill, baby, drill!” “Drill, baby, drill!”

© 2025. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at GoFundMe and PayPal.

Los Angeles
wildfires
Climate Crisis
Capitalism
Racism

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
"Woke 1" and Democratic Party Deceit
19 August 2026
The democrats’ backtracking on what they dismissively refer to as “wokeness” is the newest iteration of their political trickery as o
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Trash Panda Politics Guides the Black Misleadership Class’s Electoral Dumpster Dive
29 July 2026
The Congressional Black Caucus electoral strategy has turned the 2026 midterm elections into a dumpster dive for corporate interests and Zionis
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Slimy green cesspool reflecting capitalist rule
22 July 2026
Capitalism says corporations are people …  It says,Money’s speech …    Buying, bossing, sock-puppet
Matt Sledge , Sam Biddle
ICE Recruitment Tweets Are So Racist That Cops Feared They Could Incite Neo-Nazi Violence
27 May 2026
A newly uncovered police bulletin warns that white supremacists may interpret ICE social media content as a call to violence.
Mark P. Fancher
If Iran has the Strait of Hormuz, What Can Black People Use for Leverage and Power?
13 May 2026
Tennessee just erased its only majority-Black voting district.
Sol Elias
Death By Black Excellence
15 April 2026
Misogynoir, a term meant to name the specific violence against poor and working-class Black women is now being used as a shield for political e
Petros Bein
Internal Colonialism and the Reproduction of Capital
15 April 2026
The United States operates as an internal colonial system.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Kid growing up under growing fascism
25 February 2026
When I became old enough to drink —then I became old enough to vote.When I became old enough to think —
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Trump’s De Jure Racism Provides Convenient Cover for Liberals and Democrats to Mask Their De Facto Racism
11 February 2026
The political theater of condemning Trump's racism serves the function of diverting attention from the more dangerous, policy-based r
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Operation Piracy or Pedophile Protection, mates?
21 January 2026
Pomade man moves. Demented Don moves. Gun moll, puppy-killingmoves. Reich Ministers move and groove ghoulishly to Vanilla Ice —

More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Gao Yunxiang’s “Arise Africa! Roar China!”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Gao Yunxiang’s “Arise Africa! Roar China!”
    11 May 2022
    This week’s featured author is Gao Yunxiang. Gao Yunxiang is Professor of History at Ryerson University. Her book is Arise, Africa! Roar, China!: Black and Chinese Citizens of the World in the…
  • To Honor Odessa Anti-Fascists, Stop Weapons to Ukraine!
    John Parker
    To Honor Odessa Anti-Fascists, Stop Weapons to Ukraine!
    11 May 2022
    Statement by John Parker, Socialist Unity Party candidate for U.S. Senate in California on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. Parker is on a fact-finding trip observing the U.S./NATO proxy…
  • Investigation Shows Hundreds of US Cops Being Trained by Far-Right Extremists
    Kenny Stancil
    Investigation Shows Hundreds of US Cops Being Trained by Far-Right Extremists
    11 May 2022
    Policing in the United States is inherently racist and right wing. But individual members of right wing groups are also training police officers across the country.
  • Cost of the Ukraine War Felt in Africa, Global South
    Ramzy Baroud
    Cost of the Ukraine War Felt in Africa, Global South
    11 May 2022
    US/NATO sanctions against Russia have resulted in food shortages and price increases throughout the Global South. 
  • Cape Verde: Ulisses Correia Admits Kidnapping of Alex Saab was an Exchange for Cooperative Security
    Orinoco Tribune
    Cape Verde: Ulisses Correia Admits Kidnapping of Alex Saab was an Exchange for Cooperative Security
    11 May 2022
    The Trump and Biden administrations violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations by arresting and kidnapping Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Cape Verde was under U.S. pressure to participate…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us