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

How will we pay for it?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Jan 2022
🖨️ Print Article
How will we pay for it?
M. Wuerker POLITICO Universal Uclick

                                                                                            How will we pay for it?

How will we pay for it?
How will we pay for it:
59 missile shooting spree—
$110, 000 a pop?
Mother Of All Bombs?
A boondoggle bomber?
800 bases in faraway places?
States with more warheads than congress members? A modern-medieval torture
chamber on foreign soil? A weapons lab disguised as an apartheid state?

How will we pay for it?
How will we pay for it:
Surgical strikes on hospitals—
renaming babies Collateral Damage?
Orders to “Light ‘em up!”?
Lethal gifts dropped on wedding parties?
‘Taking out’ other nations’ generals?
Swapping strongmen for wrong men?

How will we pay for it?
How will we pay for it:
Drinking water juiced with jet fuel?
Freedom to breathe blue-black air?
Fracking fluid flavored springs?
Freedom of fires gorging themselves year round?
Freedom of floods to wash away labor’s fruits?

It’s not neurosurgery or rocket science—
and I’m no genius but— I know-I know
I know-I know-I know-I know-I know-I know…
I know-I know-I know-I know-I know-I know…
Tents, tarps, cardboard mattresses—cancer,
Diabetes, tooth decay are one way we pay—
Feel free to fill in anything I’ve missed…
 

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet;  BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at:  

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Military Industrial Complex

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


Related Stories

Biden has Money for War, but Not for the Poor
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Biden has Money for War, but Not for the Poor
23 March 2022
Joe Biden and congress have plenty of money for the military industrial complex, but only austerity for the people.
US War Lobby Fuels Conflict in Russia, Ukraine, and Syria: Ex-Pentagon Advisor
Aaron Maté
US War Lobby Fuels Conflict in Russia, Ukraine, and Syria: Ex-Pentagon Advisor
12 January 2022
A former senior advisor at the Pentagon confirms what was obvious to those who pay attention.
Raytheon’s Raven caws “War—Evermore!” Not wind beneath Negroz wings…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raytheon’s Raven caws “War—Evermore!” Not wind beneath Negroz wings…
29 September 2021
Afghan Crisis Must End America’s Empire of War, Corruption and Poverty
Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies  
Afghan Crisis Must End America’s Empire of War, Corruption and Poverty
01 September 2021
The U.S.

More Stories


  • Leah Goodridge
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    New York Rent Protections Under Attack by Landlords and the Supreme Court
    03 May 2024
    Leah Goodridge joins us from New York to discuss the latest effort by landlords to do away with New York City's rent protections.
  • NAARPR
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Police Killings Continue in Chicago
    03 May 2024
    Frank Chapman joins us from Chicago to discuss the recent police killing of Dexter Reed.
  • Sarah Jama in Parliament
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Canadian Politician Under Attack for Palestine Solidarity
    03 May 2024
    El Jones joins us to discuss the case of Sarah Jama, a member of Ontario’s provincial parliament, who has been banned from wearing a keffiyeh while in that legislature and censured for expressing…
  • Map of occupied Palestine and surrounding region
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    Iran just Scored HUGE Victory over Israel and the IDF will be Destroyed
    01 May 2024
    Margaret Kimberley joined Danny Haiphong in China to react to developments in Iran and Israel's ongoing war escalations and what this means about the future of waning US dominance in the region and…
  • Students for Justice in Palestine
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Repression of Campus Palestine Solidarity Reveals the Nature of the State
    01 May 2024
    Campus protests in solidarity with Palestine have been met with brute police force and condemnation of the participants. Their mobilization is a threat to the political system, which cannot operate…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us