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


  • Laith Marouf and the Struggle to Defend Palestine
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Laith Marouf and the Struggle to Defend Palestine
    23 Sep 2022
    Laith Marouf is Policy Consultant with the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) in Montreal and a long-time defender of Palestine and the rights of Palestinian people. He has been publicly attacked…
  • The Prosecution of Abuse Survivor Tracy McCarter
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Prosecution of Abuse Survivor Tracy McCarter
    23 Sep 2022
    Samah Sisay is an attorney and an organizer with the group Survived and Punished, which advocates for the rights of criminalized survivors. She joins us from New York City to discuss the case of…
  • Felony Convictions and Voting Rights
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Felony Convictions and Voting Rights
    23 Sep 2022
    Across the United States, people with past felony convictions may have severely restricted access to the franchise and in some cases may be denied the right to vote forever. Blair Bowie is senior…
  • Asylum, Migration and U.S. Foreign Policy
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Asylum, Migration and U.S. Foreign Policy
    21 Sep 2022
    Immigration rules are often determined by U.S. foreign policy. Citizens of nations under U.S. attack, such as Venezuela, are made eligible for asylum. Haitians suffer under U.S. dictates but are…
  • MANIFESTO: The Anti-Racist Manifesto of Colectiva Feminista en Construcción, 2020
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    MANIFESTO: The Anti-Racist Manifesto of Colectiva Feminista en Construcción, 2020
    21 Sep 2022
    The Anti-Racist Manifesto of Puerto Rico’s Colectiva Feminista en Construcción (La Cole) outlines a radical solution to capitalism, colonialism, and climate change.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us