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

12th Man
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
11 Feb 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Where’s The 12th Man—

All 137.6 decibels—

For Mumia and Maroon?

 

12th Man

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

From “Yes, we can” to The 12th Man

The 1%’s calling all the power plays—

Bootlegging, blitzing, sacking our daze…

 

Sunday we sat slurping beer,

Gobbling pizza and buckets

Of chicken like madmen, ‘til

Heartburn and boredom set

In, ‘til The Questions came

Whizzing past like pockets full

Of cherry red challenge flags:

 

Where was The 12th Man

Shrieking, screaming, loud

As an Aircraft carrier’s flight

Deck for Marilyn Buck?

 

Where was The 12th Man

Shouting full-throated,

Loud as Apache and

Blackhawk Helicopters

For Herman Wallace?

 

Where’s The 12th Man—

All 137.6 decibels—

For Mumia and Maroon?

 

Where’s The 12th Man—

Bursting eardrums for

Whistleblowers Manning,

Snowden and Assange?

 

Where’s the quarterback,

The field general, that

Comes up to the line

Barking: ANGOLA

ATTICA #77A4283

CUT-CUT-CUT?

 

Where’s the coach that

Will argue over calls like

Leonard Peltier? Or Hugo

Pinell and Albert Woodfox—

Four decades in bathroom-

Sized, windowless, torture

Chambers, cut off from fresh

Air, sunlight, Vitamin D

22-24 hours a day? Cruel,

Slow deaths, strip sacking

Spirits, bodies and minds of>

Political prisoners & prisoners

Of war who, game faces on

Against water hoses, cattle

prods, German shepherds,

Bullets and buckshot,

Took the field for us all

 

Quadruple, triple, double

Overtime, or sudden death,

This game’s been going

On too long—

Where’s the Terrible

Towels, the Lambeau Leap

Where’s the raucous carrying

On in the Dog Pound, boisterous

Behavior in the Black Hole, where’s

The Wall of Fame, Ring of Honor

Where’s The 12th Man for our

Political prisoners & prisoners of war?

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2014 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


  • Targeting Eritrea and Ethiopia: The Warmongering Campaign of Disinformation
    The National Council of Eritrean-Americans NCEA
    Targeting Eritrea and Ethiopia: The Warmongering Campaign of Disinformation
    25 Jan 2023
    Washington think tanks are home to the propagandists who help guide US foreign policy decisions. The National Council of Eritrean Americans highlights the words of one individual who uses his…
  • AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #44
    US Out of Africa Network
    AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #44
    25 Jan 2023
    The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin discusses the first session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and provides updates on the latest news from the African…
  • The Abuse of the Concept of “Populism”
    Prabhat Patnaik
    The Abuse of the Concept of “Populism”
    25 Jan 2023
    What is populism? The word is often used by corporate media but without any analysis of its true meaning.
  • Direct from Western Sahara: Learn About the Struggle of the Last Colony in Africa
    Michele de Mello
    Direct from Western Sahara: Learn About the Struggle of the Last Colony in Africa
    25 Jan 2023
    After 30 years of peace, the Polisario Front holds its 16th Congress amidst the war against Morocco’s invasion.
  • Protests in Breakaway Somaliland Call for Reunification with Somalia
    Pavan Kulkarni
    Protests in Breakaway Somaliland Call for Reunification with Somalia
    25 Jan 2023
    Even as the US and UK are increasingly legitimizing secessionist rule in Somaliland, whose sovereignty has no international recognition, a unionist movement seeking a united Somalia threatens to…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us