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


  • Isabelle Papillon
    The CPT Under the Wings of BINUH!
    29 May 2024
    The Haitian Presidential Transitional Council continues to prepare for the illegal occupation by meeting with the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).
  • Martina Manicastri , Sudip Bhattacharya
    Letter: Why Vote Uncommitted: A Vote for Peace and Justice
    29 May 2024
    The Uncommitted Movement is the means through which voters across the country are resisting forced complicity in genocide and making it clear to the Democratic Party that their positions are not as…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 24, 2024
    24 May 2024
    This week, we discuss the International Criminal Court's decision to pursue arrest warrants for Israeli government leadership and the 2024 U.S. presidential election. But first, we hear from a…
  • Austin Cole
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Repression of Palestine Solidarity at Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Part 2
    24 May 2024
    In part two of our interview, Austin Cole joins us to discuss his suspension from MIT due to his participation in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and his own experience with the attack directed by the…
  • ICC prosecutor
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    International Criminal Court Action Falls Short in Addressing Israeli War Crimes
    24 May 2024
    Ajamu Baraka joins us to discuss the International Criminal Court, the ICC, and the announcement by Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan that he is applying for arrest warrants for both Israeli and…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us