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


  • Where Trumpism Lives
    Jacob Whiton
    Where Trumpism Lives
    27 Jan 2021
    Support for pro-Trump Republicans remains driven by relatively well-off whites in fast-growing, rapidly diversifying suburbs – not by economic despair in rural America.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. and the Socialist Within 
    Stephen Joseph Scott
    Martin Luther King Jr. and the Socialist Within 
    27 Jan 2021
    Each year in January as King is honored in the eyes of the public, there is little mention of the demands of the man and his mission: his fight for economic justice.
  • Amazon Launches Anti-Union Website to Derail Alabama Union Drive
    Lauren Kaori Gurley
    Amazon Launches Anti-Union Website to Derail Alabama Union Drive
    27 Jan 2021
    The drive at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama marks one of the few times in the company's history that workers will have the opportunity to vote in a union election.
  • France Vows 'Symbolic Actions' but No Apologies for Colonization of Algeria
    Adlène Meddi 
    France Vows 'Symbolic Actions' but No Apologies for Colonization of Algeria
    27 Jan 2021
    Between 500,000 and 1.5 million Algerians died in the war for independence, but the French don’t like to talk about it. 
  • Still Can’t Breathe
    Topher Sanders and Lucas Waldron
    Still Can’t Breathe
    27 Jan 2021
    NYPD officers continue to use chokeholds on civilians without any meaningful punishment.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us