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

How Long?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Apr 2018
🖨️ Print Article
civilian casualties
Collateral damge, civilian casualty..... how long?

How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
have massacres become
‘clashes’ on tongues of
talking heads and pens of scribblers

How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
have ‘other’ peoples’ children
become bomb-test babies, named
Collateral Damage; Civilian Casualty

How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
have wallets, car keys,
cell phones, candy bars,
become guns in raised black hands

How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long…
How long? Too long—

Or, until aggrieved
People mistake donuts
for bullseyes; and
$elections
for signals to RISE…

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is Black Agenda Report's poet in residence. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

poetry
Department of War

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
17 December 2025
Harmony of a hug,Rhythm of a rose,Melody in the mirror
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Reese Piece…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Reese Piece…
15 April 2021
Salute to City of Angels’ son! He wrote, he wrote, he wrote And he wrote… Ramparts, The Progressive, The
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
27 January 2021
Everybody’s wild ‘bout this ‘new’ dance craze— this lewd, crude dance called “The 1st 100 Daze…”
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
20 January 2021
Kristallnacht came casting lead ballots, overthrowing Black elected officials and Massacring those that VOTED for them— 
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
13 January 2021
“It's like writing history with lightning.“ — Woodrow Wilson on Birth of A Nation
Think…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Think…
06 January 2021
Think of peoples having the most tanks, the most drones, the most missiles, bombs, aircraft carriers, 

More Stories


  •  Linda Thomas-Greenfield
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    United Nations Negroz
    28 Feb 2024
    "United Nations Negroz" is the latest poem from our Poet-in-Residence, Raymond Nat Turner.
  • William Bass and railroad workers
    Joseph Sturgeon
    The Exploitation Zone: The Caribbean as a Site of Imperialist Extraction, Western Paradise, and Labor Exploitation
    28 Feb 2024
    From the moment the first colonizers arrived in the Caribbean, the West has treated the region as a treasure chest for resource extraction and labor exploitation.
  • Mumia Health update
    Julia Wright
    How to Resist the Deliberate Medical Neglect of Our Political Prisoners
    28 Feb 2024
    The state uses tactics such as medical neglect, to slowly assassinate political prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal.
  • Rabbi Alam speaks at a rally
    Jacqueline Luqman , Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Recognizing the Revolutionary Potential of the Abandon Biden/Listen to Michigan Initiatives
    28 Feb 2024
    It is prudent for Black people to join in coalition with the Arab and Muslim people collectively refusing to support President Biden and connect the struggle for Palestinian liberation to the…
  • Belgian colonialism in Congo.
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Pan-African Struggles Against Colonialism and the First Imperialist War: 1876-1919
    28 Feb 2024
    From the decline of the triangular trade to the rapacious extraction of mineral resources and labor exploitation, Africans have organized and revolted against western domination.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us