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

Amerikkka Was Built on Busting Up Families…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
20 Jun 2018
🖨️ Print Article
Amerikkka Was Built on Busting Up Families…
Amerika was built on busting up families. They're just making Amerika great again.

“I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes”           

— Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III,  Human Impersonator

Bottom of the boat

rocking, rolling, thrashing

Violently— the quaking black

hole now her life. She had

No idea where she was

on the awful ocean,

Traveling shackled for

thousands of miles;

belly beginning to bulge

with the baby of her foul-

smelling rapist and his

“Zero Tolerance” policy

for

tears…

She would bore four more for

a ‘Master,’ who’d sell her

to the West Virginian wanting

her in the worst way—

Ripping picaninnies from

nursing breasts to become

bucks and wenches, working

fields and lusts of slavers—“that

was then,” they say, “this is now:”

“Mama, Mama, Papa, Papa, Mama, Papa…”

tears of toddlers flooding searing shrieks,

Torturous cacophony; the satanic symphony,

counterpoint to cool BOP, ICE acronyms—

Amerikkka's great again—

At separating children from parents;

At spinning swastikas into scripture…

Once upon a time, mint julep-sipping,

Bullwhip-wielding christians in castles whitewashed by

Black labor, worked children and parents to death—

“And everyone lived happily ever after…”

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is Black Agenda Report's poet in residence. Click his name in red to see more of his work here at Black Agenda Report. For much more of his work, or to contact him for booking and other purposes visit http://upsurgejazz.com.

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


More Stories


  • Rasha Khatib , Martin McKee , Salim Yusuf
    Counting the Dead in Gaza: Difficult but Essential
    10 Jul 2024
    The data for the death count in Gaza collected by the Gaza Health Ministry has been extremely difficult to gather due to the onslaught by Israel. It is also difficult to calculate the scale of…
  • Isabelle Papillon
    Haiti PM Garry Conille is Reporting to the Metropolis
    10 Jul 2024
    The unelected Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille recently traveled to the U.S. to make his rounds, giving reports to various political leaders and members of the Biden administration.
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    Responsibility for the Kenya Crisis Lies At the Feet of US Neo-Colonialism
    10 Jul 2024
    The current uprising in Kenya is a result of the imperialist economic policy enabled and maintained by its comprador leader, William Ruto.
  • Maryam Qarehgozlou
    Al-Shifa Hospital Head and Other Freed Prisoners Speak of Horror Inside Israeli Jails
    10 Jul 2024
    Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya, director of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, who was freed from an Israeli prison after being held without charge for months, has recounted harrowing and horrifying experience.
  • Internationalist 360
    AES 1st Summit: Burkina Faso President Captain Ibrahim Traoré Delivers Historic Speech
    10 Jul 2024
    The consolidation of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger into a confederation marks the next steps toward sovereignty and self-determination for the people of those nations. This achievement has become a…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us