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

Is cruelty Governor Woke Smoke’s superpower?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
21 Jun 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Is cruelty Governor Woke Smoke’s superpower?
Photo collage Rachel Handley

                                                                                              Is cruelty Governor Woke Smoke’s superpower?

 

Hey, amigo, this ain’t Gitmo… We won’t waterboard you.

We won’t force feed you—Hop on this shiny white bus to

a better life! Catch this sleek private plane to food, clothing

and shelter! Hey, señora, one plush seat’s left for you and yours!

We swear this ain’t Sunshine State slapstick! We swear

it ain’t Lone Star State Abbot and Costello—comedy of

Cruelty! …Why… we’d never score $election points with

Corporate paymasters…by using you as $campaign props…

Why, we’d never ever move men, women, children across

this confederate chessboard like bipartisan pawns—Swear we

Wouldn’t! We’re not the same bloodthirsty Europeans who gun-

smoked plains, prairies, and wetlands, creating crimson clouds.

Hey, amigo, this ain’t Gitmo… We won’t waterboard you.

We won’t force feed you—Hop on this shiny white bus to

a better life! Catch this sleek private plane to food, clothing

and shelter! Hey, señora, one plush seat’s left for you and yours!

We swear this ain’t Sunshine State slapstick! We swear

it ain’t Lone Star State Abbot and Costello—comedy of

Cruelty! We’re not the ones who blood-soaked this soil—

leaving Indigenous ones with stand stolen ground nightmares…

Why, we wouldn’t lie—just ask the Seminoles! We’ve changed.

We’re simply not the same predatory Europeans exploring Africa,

Promising, “Jobs! Jobs! Longterm Employment Opportunities!”

Trust us, “Voluntary Relocation” can live “Where woke goes to die.”

Trust us… We’ re… “like a good neighbor.” Like Allstate following

fires in California—or floods in Florida…We’d never use pandemic

Recovery Funds (earmarked for relief ) to ship you people to woke

‘Sanctuary Cities!’ Oh—no—Never!

Hey, amigo, this ain’t Gitmo… We won’t waterboard you.

We won’t force feed you. This is a melting pot! You and your family

just jump right in! Trust us… we aren’t the AI-driven, rightwing, robotic,

Brooks Brothers’ suited barbarians your growling gut’s saying we are…



© 2023. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.



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 and PayPal.

Ron DeSantis
Guantanamo
Immigrant Rights

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


More Stories


  • Ramzy Baroud
    Why Didn’t Iran Put Gaza on the Table? A Difficult Answer
    03 Jun 2026
    From Gaza to Tehran, from the politics of resistance to the limits of regional diplomacy, a pressing question has resurfaced amid the 2026 war: why was Palestine not explicitly placed at the center…
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 29, 2026
    29 May 2026
    In this week’s segment, we talk about the latest iterations of immigration enforcement and their connections to racist public policy, mass incarceration, and the settler colonial foundations of the…
  • Malcolm X and Fidel Castro
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Solidarity and the Cuban Revolution
    29 May 2026
    Our guest is Dr. Rosemari Mealy. She is the author of "Fidel and Malcolm: Memories of a Meeting," which analyzes the significance of the 1960 meeting between Fidel Castro and Malcolm X. She has lived…
  • Delaney Hall
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Racism, Mass Incarceration, Settler Colonialism and Immigration Enforcement
    29 May 2026
    The Trump administration is accelerating policies meant not just to deport undocumented people, but to restrict every avenue of legal immigration from the Global South. Abraham Paulos is Deputy…
  • Ajamu Baraka
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , José Luis Granados Ceja , Kurt Hackbarth
    'The people who most love the game won't be able to go': Ajamu Baraka on Resistance to the World Cup
    27 May 2026
    In this episode of El Taller, hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth sit down with Ajamu Baraka, national organizer and spokesperson for the Black Alliance for Peace, a former vice-…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us