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

STOP the killers!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
07 Jan 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Fisherman

Burlap bags stuffed with tuna and blue marlin.
Catch of a lifetime! Juan’s already counting the
cash in his head. Visualizing pawn shop guitar
for Gabriel, his 10 yr old son, graduating to guitar
from ukulele. Gabriel’s greeted morning rooster-
like— since age 3—  with “Let’s practice, Papa!”

Before pushing off to sea Juan bought the computer 
Rosario wished for from a journalism student he met
at the fish market training fishmongers to compute. He
also bought the bicycle Maria longed and stashed it at
a neighbor’s house. Juan was out to make his young
family’s Christmas the best ever.

BOOM!
Bloody mess below his waist. Juan’s a strong swimmer. But
he can’t feel his legs. He quickly grabs on to fiery flotsam.
Is that Javier hanging on for dear life across from him?
He hears his children’s joyful shrieks. Sees them jumping
Up and down with joy. He kisses Lourdes long and tenderly …

BOOM!
A pomade man has amplified orders of
his demented Don into “Kill them all!”
Laughing, they dub it  a “double-tap 
strike —”
like some cool dance step
signaling mad moves to come …


© 2026. 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.

Venezuela
imperialism
US Military
Military aggression
extrajudicial killings
Caribbean

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


Related Stories

​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
A People(s)-Centered Human Rights Critique of “An Open Letter to Iran’s Political Prisoners”
26 August 2026
A People(s)-Centered Human Rights framework rejects the liberal abstraction that makes a false symmetry between Iranian authoritarianism and U.
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
U.S. Liberal Media Literacy Guide: The World Bank and the IMF
26 August 2026
The IMF and World Bank are not subjects the corporate media cover in any real sense.
Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective
AISC Red Paper #2: The Multiple Fronts of Iranian Anti-Imperialism
26 August 2026
The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) offers an analysis of the Ramadan War and the multiple fronts of Iranian anti- imperi
Black Alliance For Peace
Declaration of a Zone of Peace
26 August 2026
From the blockade of Cuba to the kidnapping of Venezuela's president, U.S.
Kimberly D. Miller
Beyond the "Delcyification" of Analysis
19 August 2026
Siege, survival, and the dialectics of Venezuelan sovereignty.
Luis Britto García
Venezuela Is Not Iran
19 August 2026
Venezuela is not Iran or Cuba, but those nations teach us that sovereignty is not given but is obtained through resistance.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
DOCUMENT: Declaration of the Rights of Caribbean Peoples to Self-Determination and Self-Government, West Indies National Emergency Committee, 1940.
11 August 2026
“Conflicts over colonies constitute the major source of war in the modern world.”
Orinoco Tribune
‘To the Victor Belong the Spoils’: Trump Flaunts US Plunder of Venezuela
11 August 2026
The U.S. is not shy about proclaiming its control of Venezuela and its resources.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Venezuela, Memory, and the Long Arc of U.S. Imperialism
29 July 2026
Memories of a sovereign Venezuela collide with the reality that it is now a U.S. vassal state.
Carlos Aznárez
Zionist Expansionism in Latin America
22 July 2026
Free trade deals, water contracts, and military training programs are quietly binding one Latin American government after another to Tel Aviv.

More Stories


  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Million Worker March 20th Anniversary: Project 2025— Keep Death ‘Alive?’
    10 Jul 2024
    Million Worker March 20th Anniversary: Project 2025— Keep Death ‘Alive?’ is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    For African/Black Working Class and Colonized Peoples, Midterm Elections in the U.S. Offer No Relief from War, Repression and Capitalist Misery
    10 Jul 2024
    The 50-year-old neo-liberal agenda explains why political choices in this country provide little change that benefits the masses of people. The recent midterm election results will not bring about an…
  • John Parker
    Demanding Violent Obedience, Illegal Sale of Palestinian Land Embraced by Biden, Governors, Mayors and City Councilmembers
    10 Jul 2024
    As Israel's genocidal campaign against Palestinians continues, so does the theft of Palestinian land. Real estate events that sell off illegal settlements acquired through settler violence in…
  • Rasha Khatib , Martin McKee , Salim Yusuf
    Counting the Dead in Gaza: Difficult but Essential
    10 Jul 2024
    The data for the death count in Gaza collected by the Gaza Health Ministry has been extremely difficult to gather due to the onslaught by Israel. It is also difficult to calculate the scale of…
  • Isabelle Papillon
    Haiti PM Garry Conille is Reporting to the Metropolis
    10 Jul 2024
    The unelected Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille recently traveled to the U.S. to make his rounds, giving reports to various political leaders and members of the Biden administration.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us