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

if it takes 100 years
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
06 Dec 2017
🖨️ Print Article
if it takes 100 years

I am the North Star—
Hope; Never wavering, organizing,
burning thorough bars, walls, wire—
I am consciousness of all
creatures, crystalline water,
clean, sweet air, black soil
From forgotten reservations

I am non-GMO, organic apples,
pears, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach
Springing from beads of sweat
mixed with midnight oil—
I am not the latest sneakers, phones
from Black Friday Madness,
Celebrity Worship or
Dumbed-down gossip ‘bout ‘stars’

I am coagulated blood
of gunned down doctors wafting from
Women’s reproductive rights—
Flowering from fertilizer of guilt
I am freedom, loving
Whomever I choose…

I am single-payer
Healthcare rising from Big Pharma
body-slams/lies of lobotomized politicians;
I am affordable housing
clubbed from corrugated cardboard sleep;
I am free education—
Peace studies writhing free of
handcuffs, cutting off circulation…
I am smoldering ashes of a
burned down Black Baptist Church
Repudiating ‘race’ with pain

I am revolution—
Socialism passing freely, back and forth
between metal detectors/bomb-sniffing dogs—
Arriving just moments ago:
…Having been here forever…

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. Find much more of his work at http"//upsurgejazz.com.

poetry

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Representatives of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger
    Peoples Dispatch
    Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger withdraw from ECOWAS
    31 Jan 2024
    ECOWAS has long been condemned by West Africa’s popular movements as an agent of French imperialism. With the withdrawal of the three nations, it may usher in a new era for the region.
  • Proceedings of the ICJ
    Black Alliance For Peace
    International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine Welcomes Today’s ICJ Order; Demands its Implementation
    31 Jan 2024
    The Black Alliance for Peace is a leading member of a coalition formed to support the charge of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
  • A man sets up a tent in front of police
    Adam Mahoney
    An Upcoming Supreme Court Case Threatens to Criminalize Homelessness
    31 Jan 2024
    The Supreme Court will soon decide if unhoused people can be issued jail time or fines for sleeping on the streets. Black people experiencing homelessness would be disproportionately impacted. 
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio January 26, 2024
    26 Jan 2024
    In this week’s segment we discuss Kenyans protesting their government’s participation in an impending occupation of Haiti, and why Flint, Michigan still has contaminated water and no justice for its…
  • Anthony Monteiro
    Black Agenda Radio
    Black Politics and Pennsylvania in the 2024 Election Cycle - Part 1
    26 Jan 2024
    Dr. Anthony Monteiro is a Duboisian scholar and founder of the Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation. He joins us from Philadelphia to talk about Black politics in Pennsylvania and…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us