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


  • When Police Violence is a Dog Bite
    Abbie Vansickle
    When Police Violence is a Dog Bite
    07 Oct 2020
    In some jurisdiction police dogs only bite Black people, but only a few that are mauled by dogs get justice.
  • Jalil Muntaqim Scheduled for Release from Prison
    Judy Greenspan
    Jalil Muntaqim Scheduled for Release from Prison
    07 Oct 2020
    Muntaqim is one of the longest-held political prisoners in the world. “Both his age and serious medical conditions made him vulnerable to the coronavirus.”
  • Eyewitness to the Agony of Julian Assange
    Timothy Erik Strom and John Pilger
    Eyewitness to the Agony of Julian Assange
    07 Oct 2020
    The defendant was caged behind thick glass, and had to crawl on his knees to a slit in the glass to make contact with his lawyers.
  • An Indian Perspective on the Covid-19 Epidemic
    Prabir Purkayastha
    An Indian Perspective on the Covid-19 Epidemic
    07 Oct 2020
    The pandemic shows the contradictions between the needs of capitalism and the health of the people.
  • Venezuela to Receive Russian Covid-19 Vaccine 
    Orinoco Times staff
    Venezuela to Receive Russian Covid-19 Vaccine 
    07 Oct 2020
    Venezuela will also participate in production of the “Sputnik V” vaccine. “We have received tons of drugs.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us