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
đŸ–šïž 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Never rescinded—Must be defended against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Never rescinded—Must be defended against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.”

 

© 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. SĂšne
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


  • AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #41
    Black Alliance For Peace
    AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #41
    28 Sep 2022
    The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #41 analyzes how white supremacy operates through the actions of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. As always the AFRICOM Watch

  • Zambia’s Debt Crisis a Warning for What Looms Ahead for Global South
    Tanupriya Singh
    Zambia’s Debt Crisis a Warning for What Looms Ahead for Global South
    28 Sep 2022
    Zambia is heading toward critical negotiations to restructure its mounting debts. The IMF has approved a $1.3 billion bailout plan for the country, which will impose cruel austerity measures on the

  • In Response to Antonio Guterres, Haitian Organizations Point to the Responsibility of the UN in the "Gangsterization of Haiti"
    AlterPresse
    In Response to Antonio Guterres, Haitian Organizations Point to the Responsibility of the UN in the "Gangsterization of Haiti"
    28 Sep 2022
    The United Nations is complicit in what is referred to as the "gangsterization" of Haiti. The existence of criminal gangs is the result of UN Core Group interference yet is now the pretext for

  • What is Nkrumahism-TourĂ©ism?
    All African Peoples Revolutionary Party
    What is Nkrumahism-Touréism?
    28 Sep 2022
    The Pan-African revolutionary thought of Ahmed Sékou Touré and Kwame Nkrumah is an essential guide in seeking liberation for African people.
  • Black Agenda Radio September 23, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio September 23, 2022
    23 Sep 2022
    Laith Marouf and all defenders of Palestinian rights struggle against political and media erasure, Tracy McCarter and other abuse survivors face prosecution when defending themselves, and people with

  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us