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

Play, Black Girl, play! (For the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s girls)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 Mar 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Nina Simone

“The music is the magic through a raging storm …” 

— Abbey Lincoln

Play, Black Girl, play —
Play your piano, now
Come, now, let Sister-
Master show you how

Play, Black Girl, play —
Play your hot saxophone
On shoulders of giants
You don’t stand alone …


© 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.

Music
Black children
culture
Oakland
Black Women

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Declaration of Independence (for Donald "Duck" Bailey)
15 July 2026
Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
Photo: Kevin W. Thorbourne
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)
08 September 2021
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)  
BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s "No Mercy Here"
Marisa Fuentes
BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s "No Mercy Here"
06 May 2020
This is a book about the ideological construction of black women as “non-human” and exploitable for capitalist profit in the making of the New Sout

More Stories


  • Cops, Colleges, and Counterinsurgency: An Interview with Dylan Rodriguez
    Dylan Rodríguez , Roberto Sirvent
    Cops, Colleges, and Counterinsurgency: An Interview with Dylan Rodriguez
    13 Sep 2023
    An interview with Dylan Rodriguez.
  • A Justice System That Is Not Fair and Just For Everyone Is Not Fair and Just For Anyone
    Jacqueline Luqman
    A Justice System That Is Not Fair and Just For Everyone Is Not Fair and Just For Anyone
    13 Sep 2023
    A Black Proud Boy gets the Black people treatment in court, Stop Cop City activists are punished for supporting the Atlanta Black community, and prosecutors indict on specious and politically…
  • The Pyramid Scheme That is Racial Capitalism
    Jon Jeter
    The Pyramid Scheme That is Racial Capitalism
    13 Sep 2023
    Black people are both the focus of racist hate and of capitalist predation.
  • Nigerian Trade Unions Stage Two-day Strike amid Economic Crisis
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Nigerian Trade Unions Stage Two-day Strike Amid Economic Crisis
    13 Sep 2023
    Nigerian workers went on a two-day strike as the U.S. pressured their government to interfere in neighboring Niger. The people are fighting back against neo-colonial policies that create…
  • How the Black Misleadership Class Provides Cover to Cop City
    Eva Dickerson
    How the Black Misleadership Class Provides Cover to Cop City
    13 Sep 2023
    The Cop City project is just the latest iteration of Black politicians covering up for the white power structure in Atlanta. The community doesn't want Cop City, but so-called leadership don't really…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us