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

…NOW’S THE TIME…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
15 Apr 2020
🖨️ Print Article
…NOW’S THE TIME…
…NOW’S THE TIME…

coronavirus is coming
across treacherous 
food deserts—their Red
Lined decades of diabetes—
over hills of hypertension;
steep mountains of medical
neglect; over shattered ruins
of poverty like a good traveler:
simple and silent; appreciative 
of hosts beneath stars and bars
Below the Canadian Border.

coronavirus is coming
untested in pallbearer perfect
Nazi responses
Hiding, spreading—then 
strangling 
those we know and love;
those we’d love to ‘know…’
Leaving us bereft of  
bent note goodbyes
Gospel release, sermonized
hugs; and second-line send-
offs on tsunamis of tears…

coronavirus is coming
on nightmarish memories. 
Taunting winds. Hovering
helicopters. Flying over and past
rooftops of dehydrated,white
towel-waving families and
Exposing emaciated capitalism’s
cruel curve. Its toxic tendency to
Kill us—again and again and 
again… We charge genocide—
Again—shattering the champagne-
caviar crowd’s fractured fairytale:
“We’re All In This Together!“ 

coronavirus is coming
pulling puny payoffs—rent-short and
smelling like $election hush money—
Downwind of Trillions to Bailout Artists
Working Capitalist Hill like their ATM…
coronavirus is also coming
Questioning: if not now—When?
When will we stop 2/4 dances of death,
whirling in infantile fear—clinging
to trousered legs of Saviors?

coronavirus is also coming
in parked car demonstrations; and
7PM serenades to the Essential 
Class! 
Coming in balconies of banging pots
and pans—wordless droplets of the
“Internationale“ 
in a thousand tongues—
infecting us with solidarity 
in four-part harmony!

coronavirus is also coming
Salt of the Earth—
With wildcat strike, sickout
Militance! 
Coming with Arab Spring Fever and
General Strike coughs! Coming expelling
green TINA(There Is No Alternative)phlegm!
And capitalism has no vaccine 
for ‘30s-‘60s syndrome 

No antidote for fierce symptoms:
closed eyes—Woke—dreaming
wild, humongous dreams—Life
over death! People over profit—
Owning those machines—
Planning production
According to need: ’cause the
impossible’s’ all that’s 
Realistic… right now…

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

COMMENTS?

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

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com               

Coronavirus

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


Related Stories

COVID-19 and America - The Fire This Time
Wilmer J. Leon III
COVID-19 and America - The Fire This Time
06 May 2020
It is immoral if not criminal for the US to increase sanctions through its “maximum pressure campaigns” against Venezuela, Iran, Cuba and Pale
Over 70 Percent of Jobless Americans Didn’t Receive March Unemployment Benefits 
Igor Derysh 
Over 70 Percent of Jobless Americans Didn’t Receive March Unemployment Benefits 
06 May 2020
The problem is even worse in Southeastern states like Florida, where fewer than 8% of applicants received benefits.
Black Oakland Demands in Light of COVID-19 and Rates of Black Death
Black Oakland Leaders and Allies
Black Oakland Demands in Light of COVID-19 and Rates of Black Death
29 April 2020
Unless Black people are healthy and safe then no community is healthy and safe.
Pentagon Brass Can Kiss My Ass
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Pentagon Brass Can Kiss My Ass
22 April 2020
The coronavirus-stricken crew of the USS Roosevelt would be more useful making N-95 masks, building housing for people living on the streets,
Truth and Propaganda About Coronavirus
Vijay Prashad, Weiyan Zhu, and Du Xiaojun
Truth and Propaganda About Coronavirus
22 April 2020
It is unclear if China could have done anything different as it faced an unknown virus.
Resisting Covid-19 in Haiti
Pierre Labossiere
Resisting Covid-19 in Haiti
22 April 2020
There are only around 124 intensive care unit beds and less than 100 ventilators for a population of about 11 million.
Cuba: From AIDS, Dengue, and Ebola to COVID-19
Don Fitz
Cuba: From AIDS, Dengue, and Ebola to COVID-19
22 April 2020
Before Cuba experienced its first COVID-!9 case it had already updated a plan to prevent and control the disease.
Mike Davis On Pandemics, Super-capitalism and the Struggles of Tomorrow
Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Mike Davis On Pandemics, Super-capitalism and the Struggles of Tomorrow
22 April 2020
Capitalist globalization means accepting a permanent triage of humanity and dooming part of the human race to eventual extinction. 
The USS COVID-19, from Guam to Puget Sound
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
The USS COVID-19, from Guam to Puget Sound
15 April 2020
While the world confronts a real-life deadly epidemic, the Covid-afflicted US Navy struggles to maintain the farce of keeping the planet safe from
Systemic Racism Is Making Coronavirus Worse in Black America
Judy Lubin
Systemic Racism Is Making Coronavirus Worse in Black America
15 April 2020
COVID-19 is a perfect storm of systemic inequities operating together to worsen existing vulnerabilities.

More Stories


  • Fred Hampton speaking at a rally
    Jon Jeter
    Fifty-four Years Later, Fred Hampton’s Martyrdom Looms Large Over Palestinians’ Freedom Struggle
    06 Dec 2023
    The thread connecting the struggles of Black and Palestinian liberation makes itself known in the propagandistic attacks on the Palestinian resistance. The assassination of Fred Hampton helps…
  • Protest with BLM sign and Palestine flag
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Black People Won't Be Silenced About Israel
    06 Dec 2023
    As the US continues to conflate every criticism of Zionism with anti-semitism, the predicable happens once again. Black people are used as an avatar of anti-Jewish sentiment. This tactic will not…
  • Poster of Al Fatah through the streets of Algiers. Palestine Poster Project
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    MESSAGE: The Palestine National Liberation Movement AL-FATEH to Africa
    06 Dec 2023
    Al-Fateh’s communique at the 1969 Festival of Pan-African Culture offered a brilliant analysis of the overlapping histories of European colonialism and white supremacy in Africa and Palestine.
  • More than 6 million Congolese now shelter in IDP camps.
    Maurice Carney
    D.R. Congo’s Challenges: Elections, Rwanda’s War of Aggression and Critical Minerals for Green Transition
    06 Dec 2023
    The ongoing crisis is a result of converging forces determined to pursue their own interests by controlling the affairs within the Congo and subjecting the masses to inhumane conditions.
  • Kenya Parliament
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: National identity and Foreign Domination, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, 1982
    06 Dec 2023
    Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o reminds us that the primary contradiction in Africa is imperialism and its meek comprador bourgeoisie enforcers.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us