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

short school struggle poem
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
02 Mar 2022
🖨️ Print Article
short school struggle poem

                                                                                 short school struggle poem…

                                                        “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice.
                                                                            Then he made school boards.”
                                                                                       —Mark Twain

Ignoring hot tears in tones of cracking voices
Ignoring Town Black and Brown children
parents— Ignoring ravenous bodies of heroic hunger-
striking
Teachers…
Real estate-powered, battery-operated, school board
members
Voted in wee hours to close several precious schools:
capitalism’s eating children/schools/hunger strikers…

Bought and bossed board members gifted Town
Children class struggle college educations—gifted them
mass
matriculation in George Floyd Summer School for an
Arab Spring Semester—promising to last a lifetime…

© 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

San Francisco
Public Schools

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


More Stories


  • Black Alliance For Peace
    The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the U.S.-Israeli War on Iran
    04 Mar 2026
    The U.S. and Israel are rogue states whose existence threatens international peace and security.
  • Orinoco Times staff
    Chavista Grassroots Rebuke Venezuelan Government’s Ambivalent Statement on US-Israeli Aggression Against Iran
    04 Mar 2026
    The difference between the responses to the U.S. and Israeli bombings of Iran by grassroots Chavista organizations and the Venezuelan government demonstrates the importance of people's movements,…
  • Community Movement Builders - Newark
    CMB Newark Statement on the Killing of Wali Bey by Newark Police
    04 Mar 2026
    The media cycle has moved on, but the family of Wali ‘Grillz’ Bey is still waiting for answers after his murder by Newark Police.
  • Stephen Millies
    The War Against Black Workers
    04 Mar 2026
    Black workers built a strong U.S. labor movement. They now endure plant closings, deindustrialization, and low-wage work as a result of neo-liberal policies.
  • Middle East Eye Staff
    At Least 23 Protesters Killed in Pakistan After Killing of Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
    04 Mar 2026
    Anger erupted across the country, which is home to a large Shia population that viewed Khamenei as their spiritual leader.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us