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


  • Eritrea: A Bright Spot on a Planet near the Edge of Armageddon
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Eritrea: A Bright Spot on a Planet near the Edge of Armageddon
    09 Aug 2023
    Last week I attended the Eritrean American Festival in the Seattle/Tacoma area, at the Tacoma Convention Center. This was the speech I would have given if the festival had not been disrupted by…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    11 coups in Africa: Drone Ranger's legacy??
    09 Aug 2023
                                                           …
  • BAR Book Forum: Interview with Alex A. Moulton and Inge Salo
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Interview with Alex A. Moulton and Inge Salo
    09 Aug 2023
    This week’s featured scholars are Alex A. Moulton and Inge Salo. Moulton is an Assistant Professor at Hunter College. Salo is a PhD student in Geography at Clark University. Their article is “Black…
  • Capitalist Greed and Imperialist Policies Fuel New York's Migrant Housing Crisis
    Janvieve Williams Comrie
    Capitalist Greed and Imperialist Policies Fuel New York's Migrant Housing Crisis
    09 Aug 2023
    The migrant crisis in New York City is a multifaceted issue, rooted in a complex interplay of domestic and international politics and policies.
  • US Moves to Curtail China’s Economic Investment in the Caribbean
    Tamanisha John
    US Moves to Curtail China’s Economic Investment in the Caribbean
    09 Aug 2023
    It doesn't matter if China and Caribbean nations may want to have friendly relations and economic cooperation. Washington wants nothing of the sort and undermines what could be mutually beneficial…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us