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

Upside of slavery according to Governor Woke Smoke?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
02 Aug 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Upside of slavery according to Governor Woke Smoke?

“…most slave children were prohibited from learning to read or write…”

—James Mellon, Editor of Bullwhip Days

 

I.

Ashanti, Fulani, Wolof, Yoruba,

Ibo, Hausa, Mandinga and more—

Woodworkers, metalworkers, rice

Farmers, healers, navigators, weavers, scholars,

philosophers, fishermen, sailors, scientists,

alchemists, teachers, artists, musicians and more

Disjointed flashbacks…Schematics of slave ships;

rusted smoke stacks and sugar mills littering Choctaw

Land; littering Mississippi river banks. Work-worn bones in

mass graves littering Seminole land. Fertilizing crimson soil.

Commemorating iron-fisted rule of King Cotton, Queen Sugar, royal

rice and tobacco. Demanding reflection, study, discussion, reparations…

II.

In “Dope”Amiri calls, “Wasn’t slavery

Cool?”

Governor Woke Smoke responds: *“Ooo-ooo…

“Now, I’m the kinda guy who don’t believe

Slavery is dead—Naw

Like SCOTUS once told a

Black fella by the name of Dred

(Beat ‘em back to slavery…)

Ooo, we’ll strip ‘em of their votes—

While they’re debating ‘GOATS’

(Beat ‘em back to slavery…)

We’ll treat ‘em all as crooks—

And we'll ban Black books

(Beat ‘em back to slavery…)

III.

There were known knowns And unknown knowns—

Picking tobacco and cotton—Can’t see in the morning to

Can’t see at night. Water and rest breaks not among them.

Upside to slavery? Maybe yesterday’s cops leaning from

saddles— Going

Upside sweaty heads with shotgun butts for the slightest infractions?

Governor Woke Smoke suggests Slavery was *CETA

before CETA— smorgasbord of skillsets on the table

where one Could get blacksmith, bricklayer, bootblack,

baker, bookkeeper, fiddler dreams on…Hip setting where

One could Just do it—Nike before Nike!

Shangri-La where startups were soon running their own

Plantations—provided “travelin papers,” small stipends,

seed money, manuals— glowing letters of recommendation,

And blessings with White linen suit/Mint julep memories…

Yessir, the once enslaved left highly skilled for:

imprinting barcodes on brown flesh;

chopping feet of freedom-seeking field hands off;

pouring honey over heads buried up to their necks

and watching the ants work;

prying thighs apart, ramming members into dry

orifices and muffling screams;

gunning down insubordinate workers/instilling fear…

Guess Harvard taught Governor Woke Smoke to see Up-

side slavery skills in Black Sites? In Extraordinary Rendition?

In Enhanced Interrogation—‘Quaint’ Gitmo water-boarding and

force-feeding sessions—He so skillfully oversaw?

Poet’s notes: * Inspired by “Treat Her Like A Lady”

by Temptations Ali-Ollie Woodson and Otis Williams.

** CETA stands for Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.

© 2023. 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.

Florida
Ron DeSantis
Slavery in U.S.

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


Related Stories

Governor Woke Smoke's $campaign: singing Dr. Goebbels Greatest Hits
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Governor Woke Smoke's $campaign: singing Dr. Goebbels Greatest Hits
24 May 2023
                                       
Division’s still 1% survival math
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Division’s still 1% survival math
03 May 2023
                                       
The Truth About Abraham Lincoln: In His Own Words
Richard S. Dunn
The Truth About Abraham Lincoln: In His Own Words
22 February 2023
February is the designated month to honor presidents, but Black people should know better than to believe what they are told about any ben
Espionage Act Like Slave-Era Anti-Literacy Laws
Jeffrey Sterling
Espionage Act Like Slave-Era Anti-Literacy Laws
01 February 2023
C.I.A.
 BAR Book Forum: Christopher D. E. Willoughby’s Book, “Masters of Health”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Christopher D. E. Willoughby’s Book, “Masters of Health”
25 January 2023
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Governor Woke Smoke’s $campaign
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Governor Woke Smoke’s $campaign
31 August 2022
                                         
BAR Book Forum: Jesse Olsavsky’s Book, “The Most Absolute Abolition”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jesse Olsavsky’s Book, “The Most Absolute Abolition”
10 August 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Slaveholders Who Signed the Declaration of Independence: Washington, Jefferson, and the People they Owned
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor , Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Slaveholders Who Signed the Declaration of Independence: Washington, Jefferson, and the People they Owned
06 July 2022
Black Agenda Report editors Margaret Kimberley and Ann Garrison discuss the personal and institutional hypocrisy which allowed those who said,
The Terrible Origins of July 4th
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Terrible Origins of July 4th
29 June 2022
The causes of the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence are rarely taught in this country.
BAR Book Forum: “The Psychic Hold of Slavery”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: “The Psychic Hold of Slavery”
03 August 2021
The following is an excerpt from The Psychic Hold of

More Stories


  • Libya’s disastrous flooding… Causes and hope?
    Essam Elkorghli
    Libya’s disastrous flooding… Causes and hope?
    20 Sep 2023
    The U.S./NATO destruction of the Libyan state in 2011 was followed unilateral coercive measures, sanctions, which rendered that nation unable to maintain dams which failed during a recent storm.…
  • Whiter than Green: How a Not So Secret Listserv Exercises white “Supremacy” Ideology In Lieu of Climate and Racial Justice
    Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Whiter than Green: How a Not So Secret Listserv Exercises white “Supremacy” Ideology In Lieu of Climate and Racial Justice
    20 Sep 2023
    Liberalism impacts every movement in the U.S. and climate justice organizations are not exempt. 
  • BAP Atlanta Says Free Them All!
    Black Alliance for Peace Atlanta City-Wide Alliance
    BAP Atlanta Says Free Them All!
    20 Sep 2023
    The state of Georgia has doubled down on criminalizing protest against the Cop City militarized policing project. Domestic terrorism charges and a statute meant for organized crime prosecution are…
  • Marie Laurette Numa , Socialist Movement of Workers of the Dominican Republic
    The Battle for Water in Haiti’s Northeast
    20 Sep 2023
    Haitians have no protection from their puppet government and are at the mercy of racist Dominican Republic policies, even within their own country. The closing of the border between the two countries…
  • Haiti – Alternatives to US Sponsored Military Intervention
    Caribbean Empowerment Blog
    Haiti – Alternatives to US Sponsored Military Intervention
    20 Sep 2023
    The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) should be working with Haitians to resolve their country's problems. Instead, CARICOM works with the US and other nations to undermine Haiti's sovereignty. …
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us