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

My two new lil nieces: Session 1 Lesson 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
21 Sep 2022
🖨️ Print Article
My two new lil nieces: Session 1 Lesson 1

My two new lil nieces: Session 1 Lesson 1

“And you very small persons will not have to die

if you make yourselves heard! So come on, now,

and TRY!” — Dr. Seuss

Infant eyes fixed on big colorful pages—

Preschool sister’s holding her. Rocking her

World with reading—student’s ready! Uncle

sent Dr. Seuss—‘Uncle’ s Alphabet’ follows:

A’s for Anti-Black Arm, crooked, tatted, crushing windpipe

B’s for Blu Klux Klan/Baton/Blunt force/Broken bones…

C’s for Cracked skull; Cuffs too tight: Circulation cut off

D’s for Democracy—Don’t believe your lil lying eyes…

E’s for Extremist: ‘white’ supremacist views blasting you as NEWS…

F’s for Flashlight-busted—bloodied scalp—‘Fighting crime’

G’s for Glock—Gun-thug—‘Good shoot’ ’10-ring’/center mass

H’s for Hatred of Black and Brown skins like Yours/like Ours…

I’s for ICE cold-blooded killers hunting families trapped on borders

J’s for Justifiable Homicide/Juvenile Detention/January 6th…

K’s for Knee—on neck 9 min.—blu klux klansman extinguishing cigarette butt

L’s for Legal Lynching; Less Lethal: put eye out/disfigure face/damage brain…

M’s for Mace—in your

face—stay in your place, lovely little ladies!

N’s for Nigger—cops glaring at mirrors, mumbling to themselves—daily…

O’s for Obey—do as they say—whatever nonsense/whatever false pretense

in ‘self-defense’

P’s for Presto! Planted ‘evidence!’ ’Puttin cases on’ people disappearing ‘up the river’

Q’s for Questions cops ask over and over: “Where you going/coming from?????”

R’s for Routine traffic stop Tourettes—Routine potty-mouth ‘field interrogations’

S’s for “Stand down!” The command: Do not STOP murderous knees and arms at work!

T’s for Trauma/Toxic-masculinity—universal viral load—infecting fascists…

U’s for Useless in Uvalde—lovely children and their teachers needlessly died…

V’s for Violence: shopworn ‘service’/product peddled by policing pimps…

W’s for War on the poor; War on the working-class

X’s for X-rays exercising 1st Amendment rights: Assembling/Speaking out.

Y’s for Yearly/tally of blu klux killings normalized as ‘civilized’

Z’s for Zoos barbaric, bestial ‘corrections’ nazis keep for love of money…

© 2022. 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.

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


More Stories


  • Memo to France as Its Soldiers Leave Africa: “Get Out and Stay Out!”
    Mark P. Fancher
    Memo to France as Its Soldiers Leave Africa: “Get Out and Stay Out!”
    22 Jul 2021
    French bullying of Africa has been driven entirely by self-interest and greed.
  • BAR Book Forum: Matthieu Chapman’s Book, “Anti-Black Racism in Early Modern English Drama”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Matthieu Chapman’s Book, “Anti-Black Racism in Early Modern English Drama”
    22 Jul 2021
    This book analyzes Early Modern English Drama as a form of cultural production in which the paradigm of Early Modern England was shifting to account for encounters with black Africans.
  • BAR Book Forum: Julia Rose Kraut’s “Threat of Dissent”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Julia Rose Kraut’s “Threat of Dissent”
    22 Jul 2021
    Ideological exclusion and deportation from the United States, and how they has been consistently used as tools of political repression.
  • People Working A Minimum Wage Job Can’t Afford Rent Anywhere In The U.S.
    Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
    People Working A Minimum Wage Job Can’t Afford Rent Anywhere In The U.S.
    22 Jul 2021
    Over 40% of Black and Latinx households pay more than 30% of their income on rent, compared with 25% of white households.  
  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week of July 19, 2021
    Blsck Agenda Radio with Maergaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of July 19, 2021
    21 Jul 2021
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of July 19, 2021 Class Struggle Shapes Haiti Political Conflict
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us