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

A Li'l Somethin' for Dick Gregory
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
31 Aug 2017
🖨️ Print Article
A Li'l Somethin' for Dick Gregory
A Li'l Somethin' for Dick Gregory

A Li'l Somethin' for Dick Gregory

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Our white-bearded cannon
fell silent—
The day became grayer…
I know, I know, I know, I know…
He was my Mom’s favorite funnyman—
She bought his books, his vinyl
Speaking to her like Malcolm
(who she shared Turkish Coffee
with on his trips west, fishing for men)

I remember his mantra
He chanted like a Buddhist Priest:
“You youngsters got a lotta work to do…”
“You youngsters got a lotta work to do…”
Doubling us over,
splitting our sides, shaking our cores…

I remember his mantra
He chanted like a Buddhist Priest:
“You youngsters got a lotta work to do…”
“You youngsters got a lotta work to do…”
Piercing steel veils with X-ray vision
puncturing absurdities with barbed tongue—
Soul-ar powered bullshit detector
administering smell tests

I remember his mantra
He chanted like a Buddhist Priest:
“You youngsters got a lotta work to do…”
“You youngsters got a lotta work to do…”
while coming as close as we’ve come to
Having a Super Hero
putting his body
On the line running,
Marching, fasting, speaking,
Teaching us to follow
the money where the
bodies are buried…

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Right Reserved

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


More Stories


  • BAP US Out of Africa Network Statement On the Latest Zionist Genocidal Assault in Palestinian
    US Out of Africa Network
    BAP US Out of Africa Network Statement On the Latest Zionist Genocidal Assault in Palestinian
    19 May 2021
    The ongoing Nakba is only possible because of the Pan-European white supremacist and imperial support for the crimes of the Zionist entity.
  • Caribbean Organizations Call on CARICOM, the US, Britian and EU to Take Urgent Action
    Caribbean Pan-African Network
    Caribbean Organizations Call on CARICOM, the US, Britian and EU to Take Urgent Action
    19 May 2021
    The Zionists are continuing a campaign of dispossession, terror and murder of Palestinians that began in 1948.
  • Digital apartheid: Palestinians Being Silenced On Social Media
    Omar Zahzah
    Digital apartheid: Palestinians Being Silenced On Social Media
    19 May 2021
    Social media companies, from Zoom to Facebook and Twitter, are reinforcing Israel’s erasure of Palestinians.
  •  Afro-Pessimism and the (Un)Logic of Anti-Blackness
    Annie Olaloku-Teriba
    Afro-Pessimism and the (Un)Logic of Anti-Blackness
    19 May 2021
    Entrenched in anti-racist theory and practice today is the belief that all racial and ethnic domination is structured around a global hierarchy, with “white” people at the top and “black” people at
  • BAR Book Forum: Katrinell M. Davis’ “Tainted Tap”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Katrinell M. Davis’ “Tainted Tap”
    19 May 2021
    Activists and community organizers should be inspired by the work of elders engaged in social change.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us