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
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
Cheryl LaBash
Is starvation Rubio’s only strategy? The new attack on Cuba’s private sector
07 October 2026
The Trump administration's new sanctions on Cuba, are part of a dual strategy to create unendurable hardship while simultaneously making Cuba f
Berthony Dupont
How the OAS Works for Imperialism in Haiti
07 October 2026
The armed groups in Haiti are not a spontaneous wave of banditry, but a scheme orchestrated by imperialist powers in concert with a reactionary

More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Joe Biden's Terrible Legacy
    15 Jan 2025
    The moniker “Genocide Joe” is well deserved and one that Joe Biden can never live down, along with any other names that describe the damage he brought to the country and to the world. His legacy is…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: The Problem of Haiti is the Same as Latin America: Gerard Pierre-Charles, 1983
    15 Jan 2025
    Despite selling out Haiti, former Haitian leftist Gerard Pierre-Charles’s 1983 diagnosis of the imperialist assault on current movements still resonates today.
  • Manley greets a crowd
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor , Riva Enteen
    Remembering Jamaica in the East/West Crossfire, Part II
    15 Jan 2025
    Both class and color barriers were broken down during the Michael Manley era, but class barriers re-emerged.
  • Sign of one of the children in the Guayaquil four
    Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    The War on Africans in Ecuador: an Interview with Uriel Castillo of MANE
    15 Jan 2025
    Over a month after the killings of four young boys in Ecuador, now known as the Guayaquil Four, the community is still reeling but is also activated. This case has sparked a movement that is…
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis’s Book, “Abolish Rent”
    15 Jan 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured authors are Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis. Their book is Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us