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


  • Faris Giacaman
    Israel is using the ‘Gaza doctrine’ in Lebanon and Iran
    11 Mar 2026
    For years, Israel used the “Dahiya doctrine” in Gaza. Now it’s using the “Gaza doctrine” in Dahiya — and Tehran.
  • Gary Wilson
    Oil War Sends the Bill to Workers
    11 Mar 2026
    The cost of the United States' war on Iran is falling hardest on the working class.
  • Pambazuka News Editors
    The Global African Implications of US-Israel Aggression towards Iran
    11 Mar 2026
    Global Africa must oppose military aggression. Global Africans must stand with the Iranians and prepare to navigate the ripple effects of this war on African peoples.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio March 6, 2026
    06 Mar 2026
    In this week’s segment, we discuss past and present U.S. imperialism, analyzing struggles to protect Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution and to bring independence to Puerto Rico.
  • Gerald Horne
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Gerald Horne on The Hawaii Coup and the Roots of US Imperialism in the Asia-Pacific Basin
    06 Mar 2026
    Dr. Gerald Horne joins us from Houston to discuss his latest work, The Counter Revolution of 1893: The Hawaii Coup and the Roots of U.S. Imperialism in the Asia-Pacific Basin. He connects 19th-…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us