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


  • Revolution in Sahel? Military Coups in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger
    All-African People's Revolutionary Party
    Revolution in Sahel? Military Coups in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger
    09 Aug 2023
    As the U.S. and France move to interfere in the Sahel region of West Africa, Niger, Guinea and Mali have spoken up to defend their sovereign rights and declare their determination to be free from…
  • Hotel Workers Strike Against Scab Staffing App and Anti-Black Racism
    Jenny Brown
    Hotel Workers Strike Against Scab Staffing App and Anti-Black Racism
    09 Aug 2023
    A hotel workers strike in California exposes anti-Black hiring practices, and the predation of the "gig" economy.
  • Germany and Namibia: A Mockery of Reconciliation and Justice
    Sima Luipert , Henning Melber , Jephta Uavavaera Nguherimo
    Germany and Namibia: A Mockery of Reconciliation and Justice
    09 Aug 2023
    European nations refuse to acknowledge their crimes committed against colonized people. Germany's genocide against the Namibian people is just one such example of unconvincing apologies and refusals…
  • Black Agenda Radio August 4, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio August 4, 2023
    04 Aug 2023
    In this week’s segment we focus on two states, Venezuela and Eritrea, while we continue paying tribute to the late Glen Ford, co-founder and the driving force behind Black Agenda Report.
  • International Solidarity with Venezuela's Fight Against Coercive Measures
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    International Solidarity with Venezuela's Fight Against Coercive Measures
    04 Aug 2023
    Booker Ngesa Omole is the National Vice-Chairperson and National Organizing Secretary of the Communist Party of Kenya, and a member of its National Central Committee.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us