by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
The poet's wise cousin from the country offers his view from Harlem, where folks is linin' up to touch the yoke of ol' Hillree, Massa Willie's best mule..."
My Wise Country Cousin on Mule Dung at the Apollo
by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
Negroz is lininâ up early outside de doze ob de famus Apollo
Foâ lisseninâ to Massa Willyum anâ Miss Hillre olâ mule show
Malcum anâ Dr. Martha Lutha Kang is rollinâ in dey graves
At Negroz nappy-headed foolishness: Sixteen Years Slaves!
Why you axinâ me, âWhazzup wit de Klintuns anâ Negroz?â
Lawdy, lawd, lawdâson, dats one dat de Debil only knows
It sorta lak Dem luv afares where jusâ about anything goesâ
Naw, itâs moâ lak de way dat an olâ pimp be treatinâ his hoes!
Miss Hillree âmember how Massa Willyumâs fool de spades
A pawn shop saxophone frum Arsenio, anâ slippinâ on shades
Anâ tellinâ tomfool Negroz dat he be dere fus Blak Pressedent
Openinâ Negroz nosesânot enuf to smell Klintun sulfur scent
Youâs axinâ me why grown-ass Negroz is ackinâ so chile-like
Bout de ones dat put thousuns ob dem away wit âThree Strike?â
Dem damn Klintuns put moâ Negroz in jumpsuits, behinâ bars
Den cloudless night skies dats way out in de countree got stars
Sumpinâ speshull âbout Miss Hillree anâ Massa Willyum mule
Dat keep makinâ poâ Negroz walla in mule shit anâ ack a fool?
Dey jusâ confurminâ dat de lebul ob conshusniz is mightee low
An dat Negro polytishuns go where ebber de mos cash flow...
8 years ob cheerinâ foâ de Negro Commanduh anâ his Kill Liss...
Negroz put Dem sefs in de mosâ wicked anâ de mosâ ugly twiss
Followinâ Miss Hillree coben ob nut-job Nuland anâ Sam Powurs
Happy Dancinâ to drone strikes anâ de souns ob crimsun showers...
Fearinâ de thug in a rug, dey runninâ foâ de Golda-plated Iron Lady
Carpetbagger who been down dere wit her foundayshun lootinâ Haiti
Negroz need lazur surgree foâ burninâ mule shit katarcks off dey eyes So dey can see enuf to recognize woffs runninâ rounâ in sheep dis-skies!
Raymond Nat Turner Š 2016 All Rights Reserved.
Shani Robinson taught in the Atlanta, Georgia public school system.
Dr. Nicole Price is the Forbes Books author of Spark The Heart: Engineering Empathy In Your Organization.
Nick Encalada-Malinowski is Director of the Civil Rights Union campaign at Vocal-NY.
The climate emergency won't end because of heartfelt pleas to the people and the interests who created the crisis. Ecocide will stop when capitalism ends.
To mark the last days of Black August, we reprint below Freedomwaysâ 1975 editorial about Joanne Little, a Black woman indicted for killing her white prison guard and would-be rapist.
