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

In the same boat?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
09 Sep 2026
🖨️ Print Article
USS Abraham Lincoln
The USS Abraham Lincoln is in extreme disrepair after a record 286-day deployment in the Middle East.

BOOM goes tuna and swordfish stuffed brown burlap bags aboard
boats blown to smithereens. Presto! Fishing is now narco-trafficking.
And this violent video game replayed on high seas with impunity is
the new normal. Same boat, different decks?

Bay Of Pigs ghost ships haunt Havana. They bring boatloads of
jet black nights. Sporadic electricity. Spoiled food. Howling bellies.
Dry mouths. Dead dialysis and cancer patients with premature babies. 
Same boat, different decks?

Boatload of bodies dubbed “dignified transfer” return home boxed and
smothered in stars and stripes. While warlords of Wall Street and Washington
do undignified transfers of trillions from our treasure to float boats
on champagne and caviar. To Epstein ports of call. Same boat, different decks?

300 supersized workdays at sea. Exhausted sailors. Minutes from madness.
Several imagine Emancipation Proclamation diving overboard from the
sewage-spewing, moldy shower, soapless, food-short ship, Abraham Lincoln. 
Same boat, different decks?

Black skull and crossbones flag flaps furiously against winds of change.
Must turn SS Cruel Corrupt Titanic-class “destroyer” around — or
run aground! Can’t vote our boat ashore no more. Must convert this ghastly
gray, bloody gunboat into MLK Dr. Che-class radical Love Boat.
US as admirals. US ordering humongous waves of organizations. US ordering
militant millions into sustained strikes, boycotts, demonstrations. MUTINY AHEAD?

© 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.

Caribbean
Iran
Middle East
Latin America
imperialism
Cuba
Blockade
US Navy
uprisings
Working Class

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


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: O.A.S., Roque Dalton, circa 1970
28 October 2026
“The President of the United States is more/ the President of my country/ than the President of my country.”
Geraldina Colotti
Lula wins in Brazil, but the far right won’t back down
28 October 2026
Lula's narrow runoff victory over Flávio Bolsonaro preserved Brazil as one of the last bulwarks against the far right in Latin America, a victo
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: Calypso as Comment, Gordon Rohlehr, 1979
21 October 2026
“So the calypso ceases to be entertainment on a trivial level and becomes a vehicle whereby the society is going back and searching f
Belen Fernandez
Israel’s Lebanese Land Grab
21 October 2026
Under the guise of a farcical “pilot zone” project to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty, Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth strategy whi
Joshua Reaves Charmelus
At the "Foro Internacional Por La Paz," delegates from around the world demand an end to US Interference in Latin America
21 October 2026
Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Honduras, Peru, and Costa Rica have all elected right-wing presidents in the past year, and most are open T
Julia Wright
Behind French uprising: Impact of de-colonialization in Global South
21 October 2026
The 2026 French uprising is a continuation of the anti-colonial struggle, rooted in the 1961 Paris massacre of Algerians and the ongoing neocol
Issa G Shivji
Positioning Pan-Africanism In The Geopolitical Turmoil
21 October 2026
As we are experiencing a world order in disorder, with war and conflagrations and a shifting balance of power, Issa Shivji calls for a Sovereig
Isaac Saney
No To Terrorism, Genocide And Imperialism: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Bombing of Cubana 455
14 October 2026
The 1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455 was part of a six-decade U.S.-orchestrated campaign of destabilization against Cuba, which has now escala
Black Alliance For Peace
The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Renewal of Neocolonial Gang Suppression Force UN Mandate in Haiti
07 October 2026
The UN's renewal of the Gang Suppression Force mandate is part of a wider hemispheric project to reassert military control across the Americas.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
An open letter to the honorable people of the United States of America
07 October 2026
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has issued a letter addressed to the American people, outlining its views on recent developments a

More Stories


  • Denise Powell
    A Southern Reckoning with the Medical Myth of Race as a Diagnostic Tool
    30 Sep 2026
    Race is a sociopolitical construct, not a biological truth. The real determinants of health are structural factors such as zip code, environmental pollution, and access to resources.
  • Abel Prieto
    Venezuela: It Is What You See
    30 Sep 2026
    A photograph of Delcy Rodríguez smiling with Donald Trump after the U.S. kidnapped Nicolás Maduro is evidence of subordination to the United States. These images cannot be reconciled with the dignity…
  • Pambazuka News Editors
    TĂĽrkiye, UAE, and the Imperialist Chain: African Ports and War
    30 Sep 2026
    Imperialist competition and wars that facilitate extractivism have long shaped the use of seaports for access to resources, markets, and devalued labor. In the last decade, countries in the chain of…
  • The Cradle News Desk
    US military withdraws from Iraq after two decades: Report
    30 Sep 2026
    Iraqi Kurdish leaders say the US withdrawal will leave their region, long a CIA and Mossad hub, vulnerable to Iranian attacks.
  • Margaret Kimberley
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , Garland Nixon
    INTERVIEW: The US is Firmly Committed to Global Hegemony
    29 Sep 2026
    BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist Margaret Kimberley advises caution regarding the narrative that the US is in a state of decline. The US is committed to achieving full-spectrum dominance…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us