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


  • Freedom Rider: Andrew Cuomo and the Black Political Class
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Andrew Cuomo and the Black Political Class
    31 Mar 2021
    Black politicians shamelessly rallied to Cuomo, ridiculously comparing him to Emmett Till and the Central Park Five, in hopes that he will dispense patronage their way if he remains in of
  • Reject the Innocence and Siege Politics of the U.S. Empire
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Reject the Innocence and Siege Politics of the U.S. Empire
    31 Mar 2021
    The U.S. was founded in the belief that Black and indigenous people were a threat to the existence of a “democratic” and “liberty”-loving colonial and capitalist society.
  • Ethiopians and Eritreans Rally for National Sovereignty, Against US Intervention
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ethiopians and Eritreans Rally for National Sovereignty, Against US Intervention
    31 Mar 2021
    Ethiopians and Eritreans from all over Northern California rallied in San Francisco for peace and for the sovereignty and self-determination of their home countries.
  • REVIEW: On Anarchism and the Black Revolution
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    REVIEW: On Anarchism and the Black Revolution
    31 Mar 2021
    “The principles of anarchism appear to be growing in some corners of the Black community,” due largely to the work and thought of former Black Panther Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin.
  • Shinobu, is this what solidarity looks like? 
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Shinobu, is this what solidarity looks like? 
    31 Mar 2021
    Now, I wasn’t Yuri Kochiyama amidst toppled chairs, gun smoke scented chaos, cradling Malcolm’s heavy head on the Audubon Ballroom 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us