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


  • Map of Ethiopia, Somalia, in the Red Sea
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Red Sea Politics: Ethiopia, Somalia, and the US/EU/NATO
    17 Jan 2024
    An MOU pairing Ethiopia’s Red Sea ambitions with Somaliland’s secessionist aspirations heightens tensions in the Horn of Africa.
  • Libyan workers celebrating the blockade on American ships
    Essam Elkorghli
    When Arab Workers Stood Against Zionism
    17 Jan 2024
    In the 1960s Arab workers united and resisted reactionary regimes and the state of Israel.
  • Protest at Mother Emanuel AME Church
    Jacqueline Luqman
    Righteous Protest Was Drowned Out As Empire Was Worshipped At Mother Emanuel AME Church
    17 Jan 2024
    The controversy surrounding Joe Biden being interrupted at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina resulted from his cynical use of a Black church for political purposes.
  • Draymond Green
    Gus Griffin
    Draymond Green and the Israeli Defense Force: Bullies of a Feather….
    17 Jan 2024
    As Draymond Green continues his pattern of bullying behavior in the NBA, he has also aligned himself with a genocidal bully on the global stage.
  • President Hage G. Geingob of the Republic of Namibia addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.
    Presidency of the Republic of Namibia
    Namibia Rejects Germany’s Support of the Genocidal Intent of the Racist Israeli State Against Innocent Civilians in Gaza
    17 Jan 2024
    Namibia issues a statement in response to Germany's declaration of support of Israel during the hearing at the International Court of Justice and its intention to intervene on that nation's behalf.…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us