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


  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Is ‘Duel’ the better 4-letter Dream word for ‘Debate?’
    26 Jun 2024
    "Is ‘Duel’ the better 4-letter Dream word for ‘Debate?’" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Free All Political Prisoners –- Including Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning
    26 Jun 2024
    Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning paid a high price for revealing U.S. vicious criminality in Iraq. Their experiences are indicative of how far the state will go to silence anyone who reveals its…
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    “Reflections on Parenting and Revolutionary Struggle”: An Interview with Erica Caines
    26 Jun 2024
    “Reflections on Parenting and Revolutionary Struggle” is a space for parent-organizers to share their experiences and struggles with parenting. BAR Book Forum Editor, Roberto Sirvent will speak to…
  • Ujima People’s Progress Party
    Ujima People’s Progress Party Statement on Governor Wes Moore’s Marijuana Conviction Pardons
    26 Jun 2024
    Maryland Governor Wes Moore recently issued pardons for over 175,000 people in a show of "progress" in criminal justice reform. But these pardons barely scratch the surface of the destruction of…
  • Abayomi Azikiwe
    Detroit Wayne State U Faculty/Staff for Justice in Palestine Formed
    26 Jun 2024
    Wayne State University faculty and staff and the surrounding community steped up to support students as the school continues its repression against pro-Palestine organizing.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us