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

Save The Overtime…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
19 Sep 2018
🖨️ Print Article
this is what we do as cops
in praise of rotten apples and police overtime

“…hear me now, five, four, three, two, one…

Runnin' to the door, peepin' out the window
Hopin' to see only you
Listenin’ for the phone, checkin' out the tick tock
Countin' if it's a certain time
Darling, don't stay away too long
Pretty baby, I know you're working hard for me
Darling, baby, don't stay away too long
Pretty baby, save the overtime…”

Thin blue line of condoms
Protecting, serving our
finest in harm’s way—
Hot pursuit—wetly, warmly
fearing for their safety:
Chlamydia, Herpes,
Gonorrhea—scornful
shrieks of wives—keeping
Sex in the city safe…

It’s a tough job—but
someone must Just do
It under capitalism—
When not firing 41
shots in vestibules;
Ignoring pleas, “I
can’t breathe…”
Tackling cyclists;
Kettle-ing marchers,
Crushing Occupy;
Breaking strikes; putting
cases on people—planting
contraband and throwaway
Guns…
Writing fiction, acting
Shakespearean—
Testi-lying in court…
imagining men and women upstate

Today, they threw a few into the
fire until the next sizzling scandal
of Red Squad surveillance, Mosque
crawlers, dirty ‘detectives,’ street
Executions by walking-hate crimes…

But who was crossed in the wicked
world where useless thugs are
Untouchable, and the few good men
and women with spines are ‘rats?’

Whose palm went un-greased?
Whose beak was left bone dry in
the fraternal order of Vitamin S—
Nips-fueled failed jocks, sadists,
Killers, bullies back from free-
fire zones in oil wars?

Maybe, OverTime’s up—
for a “few bad apples…”
from a rotten orchard?

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Our poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed performing artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

policing

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


Related Stories

Black Alliance For Peace
End the Colonial Occupation of Washington D.C.: The People Demand Self-Determination and Self-Governance
13 August 2025
Washington, D.C.'s political subjugation exposes America's democratic facade. While claiming to champion self-rule globally, the U.S.
Justin Fenton , Ben Conarck , Pamela Wood
Forensic Failures: 36 Police-Custody Deaths Should Have Been Ruled a Homicide, Audit Finds
28 May 2025
Oliver Robinson
Trump Terror, Complicit Local Leadership, and the Assault Against Southeast D.C.
09 April 2025
Donald Trump’s new “Safe and Beautiful” task force is little more than a thinly veiled assault on Black working-class communities in Southeast
Jacqueline Luqman
Defeat The Fascist War On African People In The US And Abroad!
19 June 2024
The struggle to defeat the war on African people can be understood through an analysis of the ongoing relationship between African people and t
Natasha Lennard
New York Spends $225 Million on Its Own “Cop City” — to Make the Whole City Run on Cops
12 June 2024
A proposed New York training facility shows how establishment politicians only understand governance through policing.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Papa Cop’s Pedagogy of the Oppressor (Apartheid state professors or SS students?)
15 May 2024
“The policeman isn't there to create disorder;
Investigation Shows Hundreds of US Cops Being Trained by Far-Right Extremists
Kenny Stancil
Investigation Shows Hundreds of US Cops Being Trained by Far-Right Extremists
11 May 2022
Policing in the United States is inherently racist and right wing.
BAR Book Forum: Interview with Calvin Warren
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Interview with Calvin Warren
12 January 2022
As part of the Black Agenda Report Book Forum, we interview scholars about a recent article they’ve written for either an academic journal
jackson ms
Adofo Minka
Jackson MS: Police Killings Continue Amid Mayoral Silence in the "Most Radical City on the Planet"
15 February 2018
In the last few months Jackson's supposedly radical mayor has lifted residency requirements for city police officers, and remained silent o

More Stories


  • Bronx Anti-War Coalition
    Fare Evasion or Fatal Excuse? Statement on NYPD Mass Subway Shooting Over $2.90
    18 Sep 2024
    Derell Mickles' death was a devastating addition to the many lives lost in the war on Black and working-class people. With the increasing cost of transportation and the expansion of the police…
  • Sophie Hurwitz
    New University Rules Crack Down on Gaza Protests
    18 Sep 2024
    Dozens of campuses quietly implemented new “expressive activity” policies over the summer—effectively banning many forms of protest.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio September 13, 2024
    13 Sep 2024
    In this week’s segment, we hear about the recent Israeli military incursion onto the occupied West Bank and the impact on the people there. But first, we discuss the recent debate between Kamala…
  • Presidential debate
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Harris and Trump Debate and the 2024 Presidential Campaign
    13 Sep 2024
    Jon Jeter joins us from Washington to talk about the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and the 2024 presidential campaign.
  • Israel bombs mosque in the West Bank
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Israel's West Bank Invasion
    13 Sep 2024
    Rawan Masri of Decolonize Palestine joins us to talk about events in Palestine, on the West Bank, where the IDF sent troops into the occupied territory and engaged in mass arrests, shootings, and…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us