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

Amerikkka Was Built on Busting Up Families…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
20 Jun 2018
🖨️ Print Article
Amerikkka Was Built on Busting Up Families…
Amerika was built on busting up families. They're just making Amerika great again.

“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes”           

— Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III,  Human Impersonator

Bottom of the boat

rocking, rolling, thrashing

Violently— the quaking black

hole now her life. She had

No idea where she was

on the awful ocean,

Traveling shackled for

thousands of miles;

belly beginning to bulge

with the baby of her foul-

smelling rapist and his

“Zero Tolerance” policy

for

tears…

She would bore four more for

a ‘Master,’ who’d sell her

to the West Virginian wanting

her in the worst way—

Ripping picaninnies from

nursing breasts to become

bucks and wenches, working

fields and lusts of slavers—“that

was then,” they say, “this is now:”

“Mama, Mama, Papa, Papa, Mama, Papa…”

tears of toddlers flooding searing shrieks,

Torturous cacophony; the satanic symphony,

counterpoint to cool BOP, ICE acronyms—

Amerikkka's great again—

At separating children from parents;

At spinning swastikas into scripture…

Once upon a time, mint julep-sipping,

Bullwhip-wielding christians in castles whitewashed by

Black labor, worked children and parents to death—

“And everyone lived happily ever after…”

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

Raymond Nat Turner is Black Agenda Report's poet in residence. Click his name in red to see more of his work here at Black Agenda Report. For much more of his work, or to contact him for booking and other purposes visit http://upsurgejazz.com.

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


More Stories


  • Cira Pascual Marquina
    Bolivarian Diplomacy vs. the Monroe Doctrine: A Conversation with Carlos Ron (Part I)
    24 Jul 2024
    Venezuela’s upcoming presidential election raises the issue of US meddling in Latin America.
  • Ammiel Alcalay
    Even the US Propaganda Machine Can't Whitewash Biden's Sordid Record
    24 Jul 2024
    Sentimental tributes pour in for Biden. But from enabling genocide in Gaza to supporting the US's rich at the expense of the poor, he leaves a trail of human and economic carnage.
  • Joseph Massad
    Why blaming the Israel lobby for western Middle East policies is misguided
    23 Jul 2024
    The claim that the Israel lobby controls US policy in the Middle East amounts to absolving the US of responsibility for its imperialist policies in the Arab world.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 19, 2024
    19 Jul 2024
    This week, two scholars provide an analysis of the 2024 presidential election. We talk about Project 2025, the conservative manifesto being used to save Joe Biden’s re-election, and how it should be…
  • Trump shooting
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Biden's Weakness, His Debate with Trump, and the Assassination Attempt on Trump
    19 Jul 2024
    Dr. Anthony Monteiro joins us from Philadelphia to talk about the 2024 presidential election, the aftermath of the Trump and Biden debate, and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us