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

R2P: Responsibility To Protect
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
02 Feb 2022
šŸ–Øļø Print Article
Source: hedearnell.medium.com
Source: hedearnell.medium.com

Unhoused sisters and brothers, Civilian 

Casualty-Collateral Damage,  

Ol’ Schmo’s sounding Sam and Dave-ish— 

ā€œHold on, I’m comin’… 

Hold on, I’m cominā€™ā€¦ā€ 

from high alert into harm’s way of your sidewalk  

sleeper cells—your encampments, tarps and tents 

sprung up like multi-colored mini-mushroom clouds 

Unhoused sisters and brothers, Civilian 

Casualty-Collateral Damage,  

Ol’ Schmo’s sounding Sam and Dave-ish— 

ā€œHold on, I’m comin’… 

Hold on, I’m cominā€™ā€¦ā€ from high alert to coordinates  

of borders between Berkeley and Oakland where you’re  

Amassed. 

He’s comin' boots on the ground—Special Forces—brave  

fighting men and women platoon/battalion, heavily-armed— Amish-style—ready to raise roofs and grow food… 

Capitalism’s putative leader knows the Golden State’s home to half his nation’s unhoused. And he’s hopping mad—R2P: Responsibility To Protect—humanitarian intervention—MAD! ā€œWhat lousy dictator would do this to his own people?!ā€ ā€œOwn people!ā€ he mumbles ā€œWill gas be next?!ā€ ā€œGas?!ā€ he babbles… 

Unhoused sisters and brothers, Civilian 

Casualty-Collateral Damage, 

Ol’ Schmo’s sounding Sam and Dave-ish— 

ā€œHold on, I’m comin’… 

Hold on, I’m cominā€™ā€¦ā€ from high alert, deploying good guys with nail-guns, hammers, saws, 2x4s, rebar, bricks and concrete— Weapons of Mass Construction—Build Back Better ain’t bosh! He’s comin’ ā€˜cause housing’s a human right; 

Comin’ to get bogged down in Structural Adjustments; 

Comin’ Slick Willy-ish: ā€œI feel your pain—it’s the economy stupid!ā€ Comin’ Drone Ranger-ish: with spare ā€œChange you can believe inā€¦ā€ If your eyes well up when handed your keys it’s OK; OK if you burst  into tears during your first shower in two years; OK to wake up in your  warm laundry-fresh bed babbling: ā€œSupport the troops!ā€ ā€œSupport the troops!ā€

It’s OK to let good guys with Weapons of Mass Construction board planes before babysitters, teachers, midwifes, nurses, doctors and dentists as you chant, ā€œThank you for your serviceā€ over and over… 

Unhoused sisters and brothers, Civilian 

Casualty-Collateral Damage—  

Spoiler alert: 

Ol’ Schmo’s changing his tune. He’s saying he 

Tolt you from da git—from da jump: ā€œNothing 

would fundamentally change…He’s saying he 

has a right to sing the Blues— a right to try to 

sound more and more like Lady Day each day: 

ā€œHush now, don’t explain… 

money waits in Ukraineā€¦ā€ 

 

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

 

War and Empire

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


More Stories


  • The Black Struggle and the Future of Humankind
    Philippe Gendrault
    The Black Struggle and the Future of Humankind
    10 Mar 2021
    Exploited within the belly of the beast, the struggle for Black emancipation cannot avoid its global ramifications when it comes to ending the hegemon’s domestic violence and global destructiveness
  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 8, 2021
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 8, 2021
    09 Mar 2021
    Free All Political, Elderly and Covid-Infected Prisoners, Say Mumia Supporters
  •  US is Enemy of Haitian Democracy
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    US is Enemy of Haitian Democracy
    09 Mar 2021
    ā€œThe US is responsible for the complete destabilization of Haitian democracy and the complete loss of Haitian sovereignty,ā€ said Dr Jemima Pierre, an anthropologist in the African
  • When Movements Embrace Police Abolition, the Rich Resurrect ā€œReformā€
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    When Movements Embrace Police Abolition, the Rich Resurrect ā€œReformā€
    09 Mar 2021
    ā€œAs soon as movements emerge that identify the normal operations of the policeā€ and other capitalist institutions as the problem, the regime directs the language of the debate towards reform, said
  • Free All Political, Elderly and Covid-Infected Prisoners, Say Mumia Supporters
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Free All Political, Elderly and Covid-Infected Prisoners, Say Mumia Supporters
    09 Mar 2021
    Dr Johanna Fernandez and other advocates for Mumia Abu Jamal asked the city of Philadelphia to ā€œstand with common humanity who face illnessā€ and ā€œbring our elderly population home,
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us