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

(OSCAR) Old Southern Californian Aryan Racketeers
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Feb 2015
🖨️ Print Article

(OSCAR) Old Southern Californian Aryan Racketeers

by Raymond Nat Turner

Curtain rising, Black images

Fading, lost, stolen, strayed;

‘White’ suspense speeches

Read like corporate talking

Points, red carpet, 30 million

Viewers, Grand Jury True Bills—

Dice loaded, card’s marked,

Diversity smells like charcoal…

Well, “Hooray for Hollywood”

Never meant Black folk no good…

Get over opinions of color-

Blind ‘white’ men with

Bleached white plastic

Smiles, like you got over

Santa Claus, tooth fairies and

Taney’s Dred Scott script—

Oscar Micheaux’s the only

Oscar relevant, ignore pink-

Eyed lobbyists with detached

Retinas, jaundiced scammers

Legally blind, like monkeys on

Capitalist Hill, like sightless

Juries who saw Rodney as King-

Kong, “controlling the situation,”

Mike Brown as “Hulk Hogan

Bulking up, running through shots,”

Eric Garner as an irresponsible

Stuntman, holding his breath

After his scene was a wrap—

Well, “Hooray for Hollywood”

Never meant Black folk no good…

Quit crashing burning house

Parties, wincing at embers, and

Acrid smoke blinding teleprompter

Readers, missing the Hurricane and X

Denzel whipped up, Round Midnight

Dexter Gordon delivered, timelessly,

Soldier Story Adolph Caesar marshaled, masterfully…

…Selma?

Well, “Hooray for Hollywood”

Never meant Black folk no good…

So tap grapevines, pool pennies

Grown at grassroots; hand out

Statuettes resembling Robeson,

Josephine Baker, Ruby Dee and

Ossie Davis—call ‘em ‘Robies,’

‘Paulies,’ ‘Josies,’ ‘Rubies,’

‘Ossies—‘ just do it…

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com
Raymond Nat Turner © 2015 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


  • The Editors, Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Peril of Mispronouncing “Parsley,” Sorayda Peguero Isaac, 2021
    13 Nov 2024
    Dominican author Sorayda Peguero Isaac on the persistence of anti-Haitianism.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    Implications of a Second Trump Term for Working Class and Oppressed Peoples
    13 Nov 2024
    Irrespective of the rhetoric that characterized the campaign, the world’s majority will continue to be compelled to struggle against imperialist exploitation and oppression.
  • Jon Jeter
    Why Kamala Lost: The Democrats’ Anti-Black Electoral Strategy
    13 Nov 2024
    The Kamala Harris campaign for the 2024 presidential election was a display of the democratic party's willingness to abandon the most loyal segment of their base to remain fully committed to their…
  • Tunde Osazua
    Violence and Extraction in Mozambique: How Neo-Colonial Forces and Corporate Interests Undermine Security
    13 Nov 2024
    Western corporate interests have targeted Mozambique to exploit its natural resources, using tactics of destabilization and neoliberal austerity measures to weaken the nation. While these imperialist…
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Unprincipled, Unstrategic, and Unsustainable: e(U)logy for the U.S. Climate “Movement”
    13 Nov 2024
    The ineffectiveness of the climate movement during the 2024 election signals its inevitable collapse. But from the rubble, a new movement dedicated to the working class can be built.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us