Oooh, what a lil’ Movement can do…

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence

08 Jul 2020

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“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” ― Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

Oooh, oooh…
Oooh, oooh…
Oooh, oooh…
Oooh, oooh…

Oooh, oooh, what a lil’ movement can do for you
Oooh, oooh, what a lil’ movement can do for you
Unca Ben and Aunt Jemima just suddenly retired
Cop-calling ‘Karens’ are being called out and fired
The stars and bars are now banned at NASCAR
And Euro drivers rallied behind the one Black star
suddenly confederate statues are tumbling down—
and young Euros are speaking fluent John Brown
Protracted struggle’s gifting time to cheer and brag
Even ol’ Mississippi pulled down its terrorist rag

Oooh, oooh, what a lil’ movement can do for you
Oooh, oooh, what a lil’ movement can do for you
Because worldwide tens of millions protested—
U.S. killer cops are being fired and arrested…
Legislation is piling up like white bales of cotton
and everyone’s noting that capitalism is rotten
quick, fast, and in a hurry—and out of desperation
politicians are passing reams of toothless legislation
bought and paid for ones don Kente taking bent knees
Maybe they’ll do splits, begging “Baby, please, please…?”

Oooh, oooh, what a lil’ movement can do for you
Oooh, oooh, what a lil’ movement can do for you
Youth see world-changing ain’t a spectator sport
Like Longshore workers shutting down the port
Not Yankees, Raiders, Warriors, Steph or LeBron
Time for sitting on the sidelines is long, long gone
Workers kicking racist gun thugs out labor’s house
as Democratic Party preachers play church mouse

Oooh, oooh, what a lil’ movement can do for you
Oooh, oooh, what a lil’ movement can do for you
New generations learn in University of the streets
studying night after night, testing phenomenal feats
Parks, schools, streets are rechristened at warp speed
elders mentor revolutionary youth taking the lead…
youth beaten, maced, tear-gassed, arrested and tortured
No longer look for bad apples but the whole rotten orchard
We’ve grown weary of pleading for peaceful coexistence
as we’re relearning the awesome power of active resistance
Street heat’s sayin’ clearly “Normal don’t live here “No Mo’!”
The whole damn system’s thoroughly rotten and has gotta go…

Oooh, oooh…
Oooh, oooh…
Oooh, oooh…
Oooh, oooh… what a lil’ movement can do for you…

Poet’s note: Inspired by Lady Day, the great Billie Holliday

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com .

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