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

That is not the Question
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Nov 2020
🖨️ Print Article
That is not the Question
That is not the Question

The question is not if teargas breath thugs
weaponizing COVID; co-signing starvation;
stage whispering, “Lock her up!” ripping
children from mothers’ arms—splintering 
families—will abandon their bunkers and
vacate the War House…

The question is when will the general strike
sprout wings, gliding cross country; and how 
crammed Capitalist Hill and city streets get; 
How surrounded the War House is—and for how
many days, weeks, months—years if necessary? 

The question is not if assassins, coup plotters,
war profiteers plant themselves in perpetuity 
in fertile soil of socialism…
The question is community clinics, postal
banking, solar panels, windmills—when—
And until we’ve boned up on restorative justice—
Terre Haute or Beaumont for Boss Tweet—
Leavenworth or Lompoc for lawless low Barr?

© 2020. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com   .

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

poetry

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


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Poem for Walter Rodney, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, 1981  
11 June 2025
“any where or world where there is love there is the sky and its blue free
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise In Poetics to Ra
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Reflections after the June 12th March of Disarmament, Sonia Sanchez, 1982
18 December 2024
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Love My Black Job
11 September 2024
Love my Black Job— Black Student Union Job! Hired at L.A. City College As “The Peoples Poet!”
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Enemy of the Sun, Samih al-Qasim, 1970
29 May 2024
Read against the terrible incineration of Rafah today, this poem of resistance and refusal, by Pa
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Protest for Palestine at the White House
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Trigger Warning
22 November 2023
Trigger Warning Palestine’s the Answer— What was the Question?
Another June 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Another June 1
07 June 2023
                                       
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
16 February 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Our ‘democracy’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Our ‘democracy’
23 July 2021
Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne- caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who

More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law’s “Prison By Any Other Name”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law’s “Prison By Any Other Name”
    15 Jul 2020
    Increased police technology, increased training and “community policing” tend to actually expand instead of decreasing policing.
  • Barr's New Task Force Is a Blatant Attempt to Target Racial Justice Protesters
    Chip Gibbons
    Barr's New Task Force Is a Blatant Attempt to Target Racial Justice Protesters
    15 Jul 2020
    The attorney general’s theory rests on the premise that there is a set path by which one radicalizes into becoming violent.
  • Storming the Bastille: #BlackLivesMatter, “Allies” and the Fear of Black Revolt
    Kathryn Bedecarré
    Storming the Bastille: #BlackLivesMatter, “Allies” and the Fear of Black Revolt
    15 Jul 2020
    Does the belatedness and ubiquity/banality of allyship echo an anxiety about the enormous restraint that African Americans have exercised?
  • How Black and Brown Workers Are Redefining Strikes in the Digital COVID Age
    Mike Elk
    How Black and Brown Workers Are Redefining Strikes in the Digital COVID Age
    15 Jul 2020
    White labor leaders are failing to understand non-traditional organizing that has developed from viral social media movements. 
  • Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Dump the Democrats
    Riva Enteen
    Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Dump the Democrats
    15 Jul 2020
    The Democrats are likely to put forward a Black woman prosecutor to legitimize the mass incarceration plague that Joe Biden helped inflict on Black America.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us