by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner
“Blak Lifes Mattur, yeah, but dey’s unnecessary
Blak Lifes Mattur, ‘til Friday de 20 ob January
My Wise Country Cousin on Miss Hillree an de Matter ob Blak Lives
by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner
Now, Miss Hillree mean as de day is long—
Yeah, she lak two lef shooz, she so wrong,
Don’ know if she mo mean den she shady
Do know dat she ackin lak de ‘Ion Ladee’
Lak de nukler vershun ob Hellen ob Troy
‘Membur how she dun dat ol’ Kadaffy boy?
Den crow’d: “We came, we saw, he died!”
Lawd, dats one time—she ain’t nebber lied.
Hit Hayshun helpurs in de head wit hosshooz
Jus’‘cause she caut dem lissenin’ to de blues;
Head-butted Pootin at a big G-Sebben meetin’
Den gib sidekick Tony Blare a vishus beatin’
Waterbo’d a “ghos’ detanee” fo’ sevul hours—
Den turn ‘em ova to Newlun an Sam Powurs!
Occuepyd, foldin’ up her retraktabul baton—
Seem lak she fogit dat de main mic still on:
“Blak Lifes Mattur, yeah, but dey’s unnecessary
Blak Lifes Mattur, ‘til Friday de 20 ob January—
Dey mattur afta dat, as poleez, maybe millatary,
De penitentiary, mortuary—maybe de cemetery…”
Miss Hillree jus’ de latest slick re-akkkshunary—
Dem Negroz know scam-pain lyin’s customary?
Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com
Raymond Nat Turner © 2015 All Rights Reserved
Black Agenda Report's late Executive Editor, Glen Ford, gave this interview a decade after Hurricane Katrina to explore how the narrative of "starting over" is being used to whitewash the forced…
Twenty years ago, the world witnessed more than the suffering of hurricane Katrina's victims. The United States was exposed as a failed state controlled by the cruelties of racialized capitalism.
“It’s not like New Orleans was caught off guard. This could have been prevented.”
A forgotten history of cross-racial labor solidarity in 1890s New Orleans offered a glimpse of a potential future. Its deliberate destruction set the stage for the city's modern transformation into a…
Twenty years after Katrina, the disaster stands not as an anomaly but as a blueprint. Its aftermath reveals a template for imperial domination, where "natural" disasters become pretexts for…
