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 ‘Duel’ the better 4-letter Dream word for ‘Debate?’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
26 Jun 2024
🖨️ Print Article
Joe Biden and Donald Trump debate in 2020
Donald Trump and President Joe Biden debate in 2020 Photo: ABC News

Sun drenched morning. Silver bullet-loaded, matched gold-plated
Glocks gleam above gilded dress swords. Above bump-stocked
AR-15s, strapped across slumped shoulders of two 1% men of
Limited vision. Mediocre men brandishing usurped Peoples’ Power …

The NRA, RNC and DNC searched far and wide for a S***hole
Country—boots on the ground—who’d host the gentlemen’s
Gun-powdered dustup. The People are excited! Ticket scalpers’ pockets
Got the mumps! Pay-per view revenues explode like 2,000 lb. bombs!

Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium would’ve hosted it. But fans were
Civil War split on who they’d ‘Tomahawk Chop’/ faux Native chant for.
Miraculously, Bechtel built Weehawken Stadium seating well over
100,000—provided Boeing bombs it/Bechtel rebuilds it …4 yrs later …

A Peach State nut job/aka ‘Driving Miss Crazy;’ a Rocky Mountain
State gun moll; an Empire State inquisitor; an ex-Palmetto State
Governor who scribbled, “Finish them off!” on bombs destined for
Gaza were chosen as cheerleaders for the combatants

A dock built for bringing in more supplies and equipment split apart.
Kegs of beer, pallets of peanuts and pretzels were airdropped into the
Stadium …       Standing back; standing by; looking skyward for
Snacks, Proud boys momentarily walked in Palestinian sandals …

WE The People face fierce trillion dollar dilemmas—
Bought and bossed ones offer
Dollar store ‘solutions.’ Performative politicians promise to
“Fight like hell!” and, hopefully, spare us trauma of bipartisan
Buffoonery …  Policy-lite/Solution-absent/Mad monologues …
Dumbed-down discourse … Disguised as debate …

They opt for “Trial by combat” instead! For Jumbotron spectacle!
Standing back-to-back—French-style—and stepping off 20 paces
To cherry ‘red lines’…    As breathless billions worldwide watch!
And proceeds go to
House the Unhoused; Healthcare For All; Free Education; go
To clean up rivers and oceans; to Green Jobs and empty jails …
“Thoughts and prayers” to the loser’s family …
Winner’s allowed— like U.S. troops in Afghanistan—to
Urinate on loser’s body; to cut off fingers for souvenirs.
Body will lie in state—wrapped in stars and stripes—
Capitalist Hill rotunda … 21 gun-salute! Burial, Arlington
National Cemetery.

Winner gets next biggest imperialist strongman. Next biggest authoritarian
Supreme Leader/Embassy Butcher/Nationalist Pogrom Master—lending new
Meaning to “sudden death over … time.” And buying the
International Working Class time … to reorganize … Before the alarm goes off?

© 2024. 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.

2024 election
Palestine
Working Class
Democrats
Republicans

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
School Shooting Du Jour. War Of The Week
17 September 2025
6 journalists slaughtered in a tent. SNOOZE. 11 Venezuelans —Blip on a screen — blown to smithereens with their boat. YAWN.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Trump and Democrats Fuel the Washington DC Crime Panic
13 August 2025
Donald Trump’s takeover of the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department is not merely a result of his racist and authoritarian
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
For a young labor leader leading by example
13 August 2025
“The future of labor is the future of America.”  
High Crimes
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
High Crimes and Misdemeanors – Not by Trump but Obama and Democrats
23 July 2025
The real collusion wasn’t between Trump and Putin; it was between intelligence elites and a Democratic establishment.
Caitlin Johnstone
AOC Is a Genocidal Con Artist
23 July 2025
She’s actively stopping American politics from moving any further left than the nightmare we see before us.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
New York Times Joins a White Supremacist In Attacking Zohran Mamdani
09 July 2025
Zohran Mamdani, the choice of Democratic Party voters in New York City, is anathema to the billionaire
Jon Jeter
From Cadillac-Driving Welfare Queens to Xbox-Playing Slackers, the Oligarchs Vilify Others for Their Own Larceny
09 July 2025
America’s ruling class keeps inventing new boogeymen to disguise its endless war on workers, while wealth flows upward and capitalism’s collaps
Jon Jeter
Unable to Reinvent Itself, Dems Can’t Capitalize on Trump’s Missteps
25 June 2025
The Democratic Party is in crisis—divided, broke, and struggling to counter Trump’s agenda despite growing public backlash.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
There’s Plenty Left in New York City, and the Democrat Establishment is Shook
25 June 2025
Zohran Mamdani’s upset over Andrew Cuomo in NYC’s mayoral primary has cracked the Democratic machine’s decades-long grip, proving grassroots or
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
No kings and things (Of mobilized masses)
25 June 2025
“You can

More Stories


  • Residents looting a warehouse in Nigeria
    Pavan Kulkarni
    Looting of Food Grains Continues in Nigeria as Almost Half its Population Suffers Hunger
    17 Apr 2024
    President Bola Tinubu’s lifting of fuel subsidies and liberalization of currency trade has pleased the IMF and increased hunger in Africa’s most populous country.
  • Texas rally for prisoners
    Kwanetta Harris
    Boiling on the Inside
    17 Apr 2024
    Incarcerated People in Texas Weather Extreme Heat in non-Air Conditioned Prisons.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio April 12, 2024
    12 Apr 2024
    We revisit BAR’s 2017 analysis of the protection afforded Rwanda’s Paul Kagame by the human rights industrial complex and continue our discussion with BAR’s poet in residence about his upcoming…
  • Ecuador breaking into Mexican embassy
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Ecuador Kidnaps Former Vice President from Mexican Embassy
    12 Apr 2024
    Camila Escalante joins to discuss Ecuador’s intrusion into Mexico’s embassy in Quito and the arrest of Ecuador’s former Vice President who had been given asylum there.
  • Paul Kagame
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Human Rights Industrial Complex Protects Paul Kagame in Rwanda
    12 Apr 2024
    We revisit a discussion with Ann Garrison and the late Glen Ford about U.S. and human rights industrial complex support for Kagame in 2017.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us