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

They Wear The Masks
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
19 Aug 2026
🖨️ Print Article
ICE

“We wear the mask that grins and lies, 
it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes …” 
                           â€”Paul Laurence Dunbar

They wear the masks —
while looting our vast power of the purse 
J6-pardons, or simply worst of the worse

They wear the masks —
concealing profits of private prison-profiteers
rounding up co-workers, comrades, and peers

They wear the masks —
abducting co-workers, neighbors, and next of kin
white supremacist predators … hunting dark skin

They wear the masks —
hiding Hitlerian, stroke-twisted, swastika smirks
and sadistic glee — showing off torturous works

They wear the masks —
cloth covering the cruel and Corrupt Reich Cult
spreading COVID-ish violence, terror and tumult

They wear the masks —
revealing only cold, crimson of bloodshot eyes
from guzzling Goebbels’ and Boss Tweet’s lies …

They wear the masks —
of a quickly collapsing, mass murderous empire
reduced to ruling by brutal beatings and gunfire

They wear the masks —
shrouding servile snouts, wrinkled cruel and sadistic
battering our better aspirations, while going fascistic

They wear the masks —
that someday soon our mighty millions must remove —
for the chance to change; to better; and really improve!

© 2026. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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 and PayPal.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Fascism
white supremacy
Deportation
state violence
private prisons

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


Related Stories

​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Neoliberalism to Trumpism: The Re-Normalization of White Supremacy as State Ideology
29 July 2026
The crisis of late-stage capitalism has stripped away the liberal disguise and revealed white supremacy as the official ideology of t
Devin B. Martinez
ICE Killings Fuel Nationwide Protests
22 July 2026
Recent killings at the hands of federal agents have fueled protests across the US, including a nationwide day of action on July 18.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
DOCUMENT: “We Will Find You and We Will Kill You”: United States Counterterrorism Strategy, 2026
15 July 2026
“Americans should be safe to live their lives without the fear of terror attacks, the threat of Jihadists, the flooding of our commun
Black Alliance for Peace NYC/NJ Citywide Alliance
Collective Statement Delivered at Delaney Hall Rally - June 12, 2026
15 July 2026
Capitalist predation and imperialism displace people from their homelands. Once in the U.S.
Abayomi Azikiwe
Detroit People’s Tribunal Takes Mask off ICE
08 July 2026
Activists gathered from various areas of Michigan to report on the excesses and brutality of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
F$$K the Fourth: Declaring Our Collective Independence from the Sinking Ship of U.S. Empire
01 July 2026
The settler colonial state is now more corrupt and more unequal than even the genocidal "founding fathers" imagined.
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Trump and America’s Fascist Forefathers
01 July 2026
Donald Trump is not an anomaly, but the heir of fascism which began in 1776 and continued throughout U.S. history.
Elias Isquith
White supremacy and slavery: Gerald Horne on the real story of American independence
01 July 2026
It's time to revisit America's heroic creation myth and what really happened in 1776, author-historian tells Salon.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
War House hosted cage-fighting for 250th what’s next?
24 June 2026
Navy Blue Angels fly over. Air Force Thunderbirds fly over.Offal Office to South Lawn, War House warlords walk onBlood. 
Joshua Reaves Charmelus
"You Gotta Do the Road Work": Ben Passmore on the UFC, White Nationalism, and Radical Fight Culture
24 June 2026
Earlier this month, Donald Trump's White House hosted the UFC for a day-long event known as “Freedom 250” — fights the media compared

More Stories


  • ICC warrant
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Ali Abunimah on the ICC Arrest Warrants Issued for Israeli Officials
    29 Nov 2024
    Ali Abunimah joins us from Chicago to discuss the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas…
  • People leaving Khartoum, Sudan
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Abayomi Azikiwe Analyses the Conflict in Sudan
    29 Nov 2024
    Abayomi Azikiwe provides analysis on the military conflict in the Sudan which has so far been unresolved despite attempts at peace making.
  • Kamala Harris and Donald Trump
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Fear is Still the Motivation for Black Voters
    27 Nov 2024
    Kamala Harris is now a historical footnote who is heading for the dustbin of history. Yet this harsh truth is avoided by many Black people, who cast aspersions and scorn when they should see the…
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Without Including Biden and Blinken and the Issue of Genocide, International Criminal Court Arrest Warrants Are a Sham
    27 Nov 2024
    The International Criminal Court finally indicted Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, but this action is merely performative. If arrest warrants do not include war criminals like Joe…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Prospects for Fascism, Manning Marable, 1981
    27 Nov 2024
    Manning Marable reminds us that US fascism is institutional and normalized. The parallels of his 1981 essay with the present are obvious – US fascism remains ascendant.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us