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

Play, Black Girl, play! (For the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s girls)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 Mar 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Nina Simone

“The music is the magic through a raging storm …” 

— Abbey Lincoln

Play, Black Girl, play —
Play your piano, now
Come, now, let Sister-
Master show you how

Play, Black Girl, play —
Play your hot saxophone
On shoulders of giants
You don’t stand alone …


© 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.

Music
Black children
culture
Oakland
Black Women

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
Declaration of Independence (for Donald "Duck" Bailey)
15 July 2026
Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
Photo: Kevin W. Thorbourne
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)
08 September 2021
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)  
BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s "No Mercy Here"
Marisa Fuentes
BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s "No Mercy Here"
06 May 2020
This is a book about the ideological construction of black women as “non-human” and exploitable for capitalist profit in the making of the New Sout

More Stories


  • BAR Abolition & Mutual Aid Spotlight: Alisa Bierria
    Dean Spade and Roberto Sirvent, BAR Contributors
    BAR Abolition & Mutual Aid Spotlight: Alisa Bierria
    13 May 2020
    In light of the pandemic, we have seen an extraordinary emergence of mutual aid strategies around the world.  
  • First Somali Congressperson Legitimizes AFRICOM and US Drone War 
    Tunde Osazua and Netfa Freeman
    First Somali Congressperson Legitimizes AFRICOM and US Drone War 
    13 May 2020
    Rep. Omar recently commended the US war machine for increasing the “transparency” and “accountability” of its bombing of her native country.
  • New York Tried to Get Rid of Bail. Then the Backlash Came
    Jamiles Lartey
    New York Tried to Get Rid of Bail. Then the Backlash Came
    13 May 2020
    The no-bail movement was on a roll from Vermont and New Jersey to Alaska and Georgia – and then the lock ‘em up mob struck back. 
  • Coronavirus is Making the Case for Black Reparations Clearer Than Ever
    William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen
    Coronavirus is Making the Case for Black Reparations Clearer Than Ever
    13 May 2020
    The COVID-19 crisis only heightens the urgency of black reparations, which is now more essential than ever.
  • On George Jackson and Julian Assange
    Patrick D. Anderson
    On George Jackson and Julian Assange
    13 May 2020
    Both see the United States as the Empire, and they agree that it must be opposed.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us