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


  • Why Defending Nicaragua is Important
    Stephen Sefton
    Why Defending Nicaragua is Important
    26 Oct 2021
    The U.S. effort to destabilize Nicaragua is an ongoing crime against that nation's people. Anti-imperialists must defend their right to self-determination.
  • The Killing of Gaddafi 10 Years ago has Resulted in the Death of the Nation of Libya and the Destruction of its People
    Richard Medhurst
    The Killing of Gaddafi 10 Years ago has Resulted in the Death of the Nation of Libya and the Destruction of its People
    26 Oct 2021
    Ten years ago Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton led the US/NATO war crime that destroyed the Libyan state and murdered its leader.
  • Photo: Twitter / @devilette
    Monica Cruz
    Puerto Ricans Resist Austerity Measures and Corporate Corruption
    26 Oct 2021
    Five years after PROMESA was signed into law which established the control of the Fiscal Control Board over the island’s economy, conditions in Puerto Rico are worse than ever before.
  • Planting Budgetary Time Bombs in Africa: the Macron Doctrine En Marche
    Daniela Gabor, Ndongo Samba Sylla
    Planting Budgetary Time Bombs in Africa: the Macron Doctrine En Marche
    26 Oct 2021
    French president Emmanuel Macron ensnares African nations in risky privatization schemes, a continuation of the colonial relationship.
  • The Many Crimes of Colin Powell
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Many Crimes of Colin Powell
    20 Oct 2021
    Colin Powell's death is an opportunity to question the inclination to respect the Black face in a high place. Powell's career includes a litany of crimes that must never be excused.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us