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

Only WE Can Save US…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 Sep 2016
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

As the farcial and nightmarish presidential contest winds into its final month, we try to make sense of the senseless, and point to the only avenue of possible salvation...

Only WE Can Save US…

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

If he farts before 6 it’s NEWS—

Trumping Standing Rock resistance,

Prison work stoppages nationwide,

Protests of police murders in Charlotte,

Tulsa, even football games—pro to

high school…

If she faints at 5 it’s NEWS—

If they ‘debate’

Resistance metastasizing like

Campaign lies—back to the back burner!

Every four-years,

Two years of

Dumbed-down,

Head-fixing, fear mongering sowing

Infantile illusions

Of bogeymen and women and

Mantras:

“Make us safe” “Save us”

Meditation pondering

Powerlessness…

We can do better

than planet-destroying parasites in

Pursuit of profits…

mystical market-driven men and

Women with mutilated imaginations

Who make bees and polar bears

disappear

We can do better

than poisoned water and

Poverty

We can do better

than porkers

Piggin’ out on pie charts

of our wealth for eternal war

We can do better

than worship violence—

Police state fundamentalism

Where, according to Old Testament,

they shoot ‘their own people’ and

Books become guns,

Traffic stops, CD sales… death sentences

We can do better

than stand-stolen-

Seminole-Sioux-Cheyenne ground with

concealed weapons on college campuses

We can do better

than prison-pipeline ‘schools’

Following money and blood

Crippling children’s spirits

We can do better

Taking to the streets,

Reservations, football fields, factories prisons—

universities where we teach ourselves to make

Revolution—taste paradise now—imagining

Socialist USA

Raymond Nat Turner © 2016 All Rights Reserved

BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. Find more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • National Lawyers Guild
    The National Lawyers Guild Disputes Carter Center Statements on 2024 Venezuelan Presidential Elections
    14 Aug 2024
    The U.S. has crafted a narrative of a stolen election in Venezuela, supported by the Carter Center as a source. The National Lawyers Guild refutes this false claim.
  • Ramzy Baroud
    Why Israel’s Strategy of Fear, Humiliation is Destined to Fail
    14 Aug 2024
    Israel depends on acts of terror to maintain dominance over the Palestinian people. But that tactic will never succeed in breaking the will of the people - it has only grown stronger.
  • Akela Lacy
    After Michael Brown’s Killing, Wesley Bell Called for “Accountability on Both Sides” in Ferguson Racism
    14 Aug 2024
    The AIPAC-backed challenger to Rep. Cori Bush also said the decision not to release Darren Wilson’s side of the story was “tragic.”
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio August 9, 2024
    09 Aug 2024
    In this week’s segment, we examine why there are violent racist and Islamophobic riots in Britain. But first, we talk about the upcoming trial of the Uhuru Three, which is yet another state attack on…
  • Uhuru rally
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Solidarity With the Uhuru Three
    09 Aug 2024
    Omali Yeshitela joins us to discuss the looming federal trial of the Uhuru Three on charges of being foreign agents. We also talk about this year’s presidential election and the defeat of…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us