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

Fighting for Oak Flat/Chi Chil Bildagoteel
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
20 Oct 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Fighting for Oak Flat/Chi Chil Bildagoteel
Fighting for Oak Flat/Chi Chil Bildagoteel

Fighting for Oak Flat/Chi Chil Bildagoteel

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he

who did nothing because he could only do little.”

—Edmund Burke

I.

By the time I get to Phoenix

they’ll be risin’—

oh, resisting, planning and

Organizin’…

 

They’ll scoff at the judges

owned by the mine—

and rally us ‘round an ol’

Apache shrine…

 

By the time they make SF

we’ll be waitin’—

In solidarity and agitatin’…

 

II.

Protect Oak Flat—Chi Chil Bildagoteel—from the

“Doctrine of Discovery” dressed in Forest Service

uniforms. Dressed in war criminal McCain Brooks

Brothers suits; Black robes of Bassackwards Tribes-

men of Thom-ass Clarence-type—fluent in Forked

Tongue; Facile tearing up treaties, temporary in-

junctions, preliminary restraining orders—pen

point/gunpoint…

 

Apache Land! 1852 treaty never Amended;

Never rescinded—Must be defended against

copper barons of London/Sydney—

Extractor’s blind to sacred springs flowing profit-free…

Person Hoods who blew up aboriginal Australian rock

shelters; confess in corporate catechism that

Straight, no chaser, “focuses on finding, mining,

processing the Earth's mineral resources…”

 

Protect Oak Flat—Chi Chil Bildagoteel—from

copper-coated vampires with wet dreams of sinking

fangs 7,000 feet deep in soil to hurry slurry—drilling

and spilling—Spilling accidentally on purpose into river;

into aquifer; leaving their Eiffel Tower-sized bite mark

 

Apache Land! 1852 treaty never Amended;

Never rescinded—Must be defended against

copper barons of London/Sydney—

who give less than a mine tailings’ damn

About acorns, cactus, yucca; About bobcats, black bears,

mountain lions and deer; About Apache prophets, prayers,

religious rites—Removed from Holy shareholders’ wealth—

The Gospel of Greed…

 

Protect Oak Flat—Chi Chil Bildagoteel—from hearings—

Hearings hearing what’s been heard over and over and

over again: “Bovine dung-Bovine dung-Bovine dung-

Bovine dung—Bull bleep-Bull bleep-Bull bleep-Bull bleep-

Bull bleep—“ or, the sweeter scented and sounding version:

“Blah-blah-blah-blah…”

 

Inspired by the great Isaac Hayes’s version of the great Jim Webb’s

composition, “By The Time I Get to Phoenix.”

 

Š 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, 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: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Oak Flat
Indigenous
Apache

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


Related Stories

Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Big Green + Big Tech = Bigger Environmental Racism: How Certain white-led “environmental” Groups are Selling out Frontline Communities to Accommodate Data Centers
25 March 2026
Big Green groups taking millions from Big Tech have abandoned vulnerable communities to become accomplices in data center proliferation rather
Aby L. Sène
Patagonia Forest Fires Reveal Imperialist Theft of Protected Lands
28 January 2026
The arson attacks that engulfed the protected forests of he Andean-Patagonia region serve as a reminder that Western conservation mod
Shasta people
Zach Frye
No Green For Go: How Settler-Colonialism Kills More Than Just People
27 March 2024
Settler colonialism has caused the destruction of indigenous lands around the world and, as a result, the environment in which we all live.

More Stories


  • Mutulu Shakur
    Akinyele Umoja
    Mutulu Shakur
    12 Jul 2023
    Mutulu Shakur passed away just seven months after being paroled. Like other political prisoners he was released only when he was terminally ill. The US has more political prisoners and incarcerates…
  • Haiti – CARICOM caves in to US pressure
    A.T. Freeman
    Haiti – CARICOM caves in to US pressure
    12 Jul 2023
    The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has succumbed to US pressure and endorsed a new invasion of Haiti.
  • More Than Meets the Silk Press: Kamala Harris and U.S. Imperialism
    Salifu Mack
    More Than Meets the Silk Press: Kamala Harris and U.S. Imperialism
    12 Jul 2023
    Kamala Harris can be the object of derision for her word salads and oddly nervous laughter. But she plays an important role in promoting US imperialism and the cynical politics of representation.
  • Journalists or Witch Hunters? Examining the New York Times’ Shameful Red Scare History
    Jasper Saah
    Journalists or Witch Hunters? Examining the New York Times’ Shameful Red Scare History
    12 Jul 2023
    Joseph McCarthy carried out his red scare with the help of establishment media like the New York Times. Its recent Sinophobic screeds follow the Biden administration narrative and are consistent with…
  • Black Agenda Radio July 7, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 7, 2023
    07 Jul 2023
    Glen Ford explained the end of affirmative action in 2013, CIA experiments on indigenous children and Black prisoners, and the Peoples' Senate builds its formation.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us