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

Papa Cop
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
30 Mar 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Papa Cop
NYC mayor ordered that the unhoused be moved from public spaces. (Photo: Karla Ann Cote/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press)

                                                                                                         Papa Cop

                                                                            (and other intersectional servants of empire)

                                                                                 “Be realistic, demand the impossible!” 

                                                                                                —Che Guevara

I.

Moblutu logic of a Strongman—Unquestionable—

Never wrong man:

I wore a dick for decades—protected women

of the world…When you do that you have the

right to question me on patriarchy and feminism…

Moblutu logic of a Strongman—Unquestionable—

Never wrong man:

I have 0—ZEEERO—Tolerance for the unhoused, the unwashed

stinking vermin riding my trains all night/sleeping in my subway

stations!

They’ll take Manhattan—The Bronx and Staten—and be panhandling

on Wall Street, if I don’t crack down on their dirty black asses! If I

don’t deploy—if I don’t go Broken Windows—blu Ton-Ton Macoute-

style on ‘em!

Moblutu logic of a Strongman—Unquestionable—

Never wrong man:

Those bums don’t want roofs over their heads. They just wanna

ride my trains back and forth for free all night! They just wanna

stink and disturb good clean white folks buying up Blacks’ brown

stones located on Lenni Lenape land… It’s a thin blu line

between love and hate—and good white folks’ Real Estate…

Moblutu logic of a Strongman—Unquestionable—

Never wrong man:

Through the storm of pandemic price-gouging; tsunami of illegal

Evictions; In the face of raging flames I see no evil, hear no evil,

speak no evil of arsonist slumlords and their fire trap buildings—

Right down to the wire—even through the fire…

II.

A gentleman—who’s hittin’ triple digits in two weeks—shook his

head and said, “Maybe we wuz betta off wit Hi Jon de Conkur

Root, black cat dandur, goobur dus’ an’ rabbit foots den Dem

Lightfoots,

Papa Cop/Raytheon’s Raven/Ladee Blu an’ otha blu blood

backed-Negroz?”

He said, “You remembur, de ones wit all dat nappy-headed

foolishness—

whoopin’, an’ hollerin’, an’ happy-dancin’ on ice

durin’ dat Iceburg Slim boy’s War House comin’ in party?

He said, “You know, de Negroz dat knew dey bebbys wouldn’t

be struk by

boms, missuls an’ drones; Or choke-holt by de blu klux klan?”

He said, “Hell, look lak we wuz betta off wit ol’ spookisms lak:

If you seez a star, run, make a wish, an’ it’ll come true… An’, if

a dog howlin’ in de nite, turn up de soles ob yo’ shooz an’ he’ll

Stop!

Look lak we wuz betta off wit ol’ spookisms den believin’ in Dem

Negroz wit dey freezurs stuffed full ob’ cash—Dem Negroz beggin’

Kibbuls and Bits—for us–frum de Five Families…’tween dey

WARS?”

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, 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: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Unhoused; Homeless; Eric Adams; New York City

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


Related Stories

Daniel Penny is The State
Ashoka Jegroo
Daniel Penny is The State
17 May 2023
Daniel Penny choked Jordan Neely to death on a New York City subway.
The Murder of Jordan Neely Abetted by Eric Adams, Worst Black Mayor in the Country
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Murder of Jordan Neely Abetted by Eric Adams, Worst Black Mayor in the Country
10 May 2023
New York City's mayor isn't just a self-interested member of the Black political class.
F Train Lynching: Papa Cop's wink and nod
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
F Train Lynching: Papa Cop's wink and nod
10 May 2023
                                   

More Stories


  • Trump Derangement Syndrome Returns
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Trump Derangement Syndrome Returns
    17 Aug 2022
    Why would Black people laud the FBI or criticize protection against self-incrimination? The FBI search of Donald Trump's home has reawakened Trump Derangement Syndrome.
  • ESSAY AND PETITION: Massacre at Attica, The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service, 1971
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY AND PETITION: Massacre at Attica, The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service, 1971
    17 Aug 2022
    ​​​​​​​To commemorate Black August and in memory of the forty-two men massacred during the September 13, 1971 Attica Prison uprising we reproduce below an essay and petition from The Black Panther…
  • …and who paid for the raid?
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    …and who paid for the raid?
    17 Aug 2022
                                                         
  • BAR Book Forum: Tanya Katerí Hernández’s Book, “Racial Innocence”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Tanya Katerí Hernández’s Book, “Racial Innocence”
    17 Aug 2022
    This week’s featured author is Tanya Katerí Hernández. Hernández is the Archibald R. Murray Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law. Her book is Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-…
  • The City Has Failed University City Townhome Residents. They Should Pay For It — Literally
    Ernest Owens
    The City Has Failed University City Townhome Residents. They Should Pay For It — Literally
    17 Aug 2022
    The traumatizing clearing of the University City Townhome encampment in West Philadelphia symbolizes the ongoing racial injustice of gentrification. One solution: The city should buy the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us