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

It’s not personal, it’s Business…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
15 Jan 2020
🖨️ Print Article
It’s not personal, it’s Business…
It’s not personal, it’s Business…

Blood!Fire! First 48 hours New
Year; New Decade. Primitive, hi-
tech bloodshed for rogue state 
‘freedom’ muscling in on Mullah 
turf. Luftwaffe whacks gangster 
rivals. Headlines should scream;
History whispers:
It’s not personal, it’s business…

Wehrmacht stock just shot
to the top with crude prices—
The vulture’s wetting its beak
in Iranian-Iraqi rackets—
It’s not personal, it’s business…

Mushroom cloud eyes, smoking
gun beak—the vulture’s vested
interests are chaos, carnage— 
Bloodletting… Weaponized words,
Microchip compassion… Its GNP: 
charred silhouettes, severed 
heads; limbless bodies; and
rabid dogs battling battalions
of flies for decomposing corpses. 
It considers children collateral
damage; seniors civilian casualties—
It’s not personal, it’s business…

Nonstop, the vulture caws
cuckoo questions parrots pick
up for suckers’ consumption:
“Was the unwise guy being too
big of a big shot for the hit?”
“Why didn’t the War House get 
Permission from the Commission?
“Why didn’t The Five Families get
Permission from the Commission?”
Tchotchkes-chested Five Family
Muscle’s for Murder, Inc.—Wall
Street gangs. Five Family muscle 
Shouts, “‘WE' are at War!” ‘WE' are at War!”
WE reply, “No! Not this time, dear white
boys. YOU, High rollers, major stock holders—
Seven-figure CEO, rollin’ in war profiteer
dough are at war! WE are tired, WE are
weary of YOU and YOUR looped Wars…”
The Drone Ranger knew,
riding in on his donkey 
against “dumb wars.” Boss Tweet 
knew, riding in on his elephant, 
trousers on fire, against “useless
Wars.” Like Slick Willy, when his
impeachment front paged, Tweet 
finds foreign peoples to sanction 
and 
Bomb
It’s not personal, it’s business…

Warning to the 99%—
Please, don’t lynch yourselves—
hung up on three branches of
Theater: 
War House, Capitalist Hill, White
Supreme Court
Funding Five Families’ 2 sets
of cooked books, its garrisons
of greasy-thumbed accountants:
Checks gargantuan,
Balances ballooning—
No wonder assassins are swooning, 
in sync with two wings of the vulture
flapping together precisely. As usual,
Engorging their bipartisan budgets 
for war quite Nicely…
It’s not personal, it’s business…

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com .

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

Trumpacolypse

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


Related Stories

Trump as Othello in a Corporate Theater
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Trump as Othello in a Corporate Theater
21 January 2021
Trump the straw man has finally been knocked down, giving the Democrats a victory that costs their corporate masters nothing.
Boss Tweet’s Blitzkrieg 
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
Boss Tweet’s Blitzkrieg 
04 December 2019
I wake in a cold sweat, scrambling for the internet— What salvoes were let loose while we slept?  How badly
William The Redactor 
Raymond Nat Turner , BAR poet-in-residence
William The Redactor 
14 August 2019
William The Redactor  will get to the bottom of it…
The Diary of a Trumpy Kid
Mark P. Fancher
The Diary of a Trumpy Kid
30 January 2019
The formative years of the future Commander-in-Thief. “Hail, Comandante Idiota!”
Family Separation Through Prison and Policing Should Also Outrage Us
Leslie Mac
Family Separation Through Prison and Policing Should Also Outrage Us
27 June 2018
“This country continues to routinely separate children from their parents and has done so well before this cu
Blues For Boss Tweet  (and $cammany Haul)
Raymond Nat Turner , BAR poet-in-residence
Blues For Boss Tweet (and $cammany Haul)
02 May 2018
Called it ‘Stormy Sunday—’ Monday was more Mad Called it ‘Stormy Sunday—’ Monday was more Mad
Liberal Totalitarianism and the Trump Diversion
Ajamu Baraka , BAR editor and columnist
Liberal Totalitarianism and the Trump Diversion
04 February 2018
The ongoing political circus in the capital of the world’s most powerful empire opens almost daily with a new act each day showcasing an even more
How Donald Trump Rode in on “Dark Money”
Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
How Donald Trump Rode in on “Dark Money”
01 February 2018
“It wasn’t the Russians that brought us Trump, but the usual suspects: private equity and hedge funds bandits
Freedom Rider: Trump Love Endures
Margaret Kimberley , BAR editor and senior columnist
Freedom Rider: Trump Love Endures
10 January 2018
The recently published book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House is an inside account of the Donald Trump campaign and presidency.

More Stories


  • Terence Keel
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Coroner's Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence
    20 Feb 2026
    In his book, "The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence," Dr. Terence Keel investigates how coroners and medical examiners omit key information about police…
  • Lebron James
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Nothing But Great Things: LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Israel
    20 Feb 2026
    Margaret Kimberley was recently a guest on the Revolutionary Change podcast with co-hosts Jen Perelman and Peter Hager. In these excerpts of their conversation, they discussed the intersection…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Marco Rubio Reveals the White Supremacy at the Heart of Western Foreign Policy
    18 Feb 2026
    Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in public what is usually unspoken but accepted around the world. Western foreign policy is controlled by the doctrine of white supremacy. 
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Resurrection City: The Dream…The Accomplishments, Jesse Jackson, 1968
    18 Feb 2026
    “The Poor People’s Campaign is the greatest single challenge ever unleashed upon our colonial system.”
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Ajamu Baraka Remembers Rev. Jesse Jackson
    18 Feb 2026
    What is Jesse Jackson’s legacy? Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report editor and columnist, provides his reflections.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us