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


  • A Dose of Reality for the #ADOS Movement
    Broderick Dunlap
    A Dose of Reality for the #ADOS Movement
    06 May 2021
    Instead of showing solidarity with the third world, ADOS makes it clear that they want their share of the spoils of imperialism. 
  • Arendt saw the “Negro question” as a “Negro problem” rather than a white problem.
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Kathryn Sophia Belle’s “Hannah Arendt and the Negro Question”
    06 May 2021
    Arendt saw the “Negro question” as a “Negro problem” rather than a white problem.
  • The authors set out to reconstruct King’s critical theory of racial capitalism.
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Jared A. Loggins and Andrew J. Douglas’ “Prophet of Discontent”
    06 May 2021
    The authors set out to reconstruct King’s critical theory of racial capitalism.
  • The US Military Occupation Of Trinidad
    The National Workers Union
    The US Military Occupation Of Trinidad
    06 May 2021
    The National Workers Union
  • Voices Are Raised Against the NBA Launching Its New African League in Rwanda
    David Zirin
    Voices Are Raised Against the NBA Launching Its New African League in Rwanda
    06 May 2021
    Human rights groups are concerned that using Rwanda as a backdrop would provide a public relations boost for its autocratic leader.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us