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

Light Up In Harlem
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
29 Oct 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner

Commemorating

Beyond Vietnam,

Celebrating

Grassroots pregnant with

Struggle

 

Light up in Harlem

by BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner

(BAR 7th Anniversary Celebration)

“Over truth there is light” – Moroccan saying

 

Friday night and a

Light burns bright

Up here in Harlem—

Bright like LED smiles

Of Douglass, Delaney

Walker, Cornish and Ida B.

We’re that light tonight…

 

We’re that light tonight,

Illumination

Lineage of tens of

Of thousands of torchbearers

Dealing Defenders,

Dispatches, Eagles,

Afro-Americans,

Mysteries, North Stars,

Freedom Journals, New York

Globes, Boston Guardians and

Memphis Free Speech & Headlights

 

We’re that light tonight…

 

We’re that light tonight,

Back at Riverside

Commemorating

Beyond Vietnam,

Celebrating

Grassroots pregnant with

Struggle birthing the

March on Washington

We’re that light tonight…

 

We’re that light tonight,

Not neon soldiers

Of Fortune 500

Foundation followers

Mumbling mule madness

We’re that light tonight…

 

We’re that light tonight

Streaming from Philly,

Connecticut, Jersey,

Filtering in from

Atlanta, Massachusetts,

Parts west, popping corks

On Champagne and wines

Red and white, toasting

Truth telling, illuminating

The people, instead of

“Speaking truth to power,”

Under Bill Clinton’s

Desk, like chittlin-breath

Buffoons are prone to do…

We’re the light tonight!

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2013 All Rights 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


  • Peruvian Coup Regime Approves Lithium Mining as Puno Rejects Plan Without Nationalization
    Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    Peruvian Coup Regime Approves Lithium Mining as Puno Rejects Plan Without Nationalization
    26 Apr 2023
    The people of Peru demand that their lithium reserves benefit that nation through a nationalization process, and that their environment be protected when their resources are extracted.
  • It’s Not Military Force But an End to Impunity That Can Bring Peace to the Congo
    Peoples Dispatch
    It’s Not Military Force But an End to Impunity That Can Bring Peace to the Congo
    26 Apr 2023
    Kambale Musavuli talks about the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo following the discovery of mass graves in North Kivu, in Eastern DRC. He also explains why the solutions…
  • Democratic Transition in Sudan Further Delayed by Military Clashes
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Democratic Transition in Sudan Further Delayed by Military Clashes
    26 Apr 2023
    The current crisis between military factions in Sudan is a result of foreign interference and the subversion of democracy. The people of that nation need a return to civilian rule.
  • AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #46
    Black Alliance for Peace US Out of Africa Network
    AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #46
    26 Apr 2023
    The impact of the U.S./NATO destruction of the Libyan state is still being felt. AFRICOM is still the great destabilizer of the entire African continent.
  • Wuambushu, An Ignoble and Disgusting Propaganda Operation Under the Sun of Mayotte
    Initiative Communiste
    Wuambushu, An Ignoble and Disgusting Propaganda Operation Under the Sun of Mayotte
    26 Apr 2023
    Mayotte is a French overseas territory island located in the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. It is also near the Comoros Islands, whose citizens travel to Mayotte as undocumented…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us