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


  • USAID: The Humanitarian Face of Colonial Exploitation
    Amanda Yee
    USAID: The Humanitarian Face of Colonial Exploitation
    22 Feb 2023
    The USAID may appear to give a helping hand all over the world, but there are always very dangerous strings attached.
  • Black Agenda Radio February 17, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio February 17, 2023
    17 Feb 2023
    This week we hear about US relations with Nicaragua, and the introductory webinar for the People’s Senate. But first the effort to provide abortion access in Texas, a state which has banned the…
  • The Texas Equal Access Fund Assists with Abortion Services Despite a State Ban
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Texas Equal Access Fund Assists with Abortion Services Despite a State Ban
    17 Feb 2023
    The Texas Equal Access Fund works to expand access to abortion care while simultaneously shifting culture towards reproductive justice.
  • Nicaragua Succeeds Despite U.S. Attacks
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Nicaragua Succeeds Despite U.S. Attacks
    17 Feb 2023
    The Central American nation of Nicaragua has been the focus of US interventionism ever since the Sandinista revolution which occurred in 1979.
  • Jihad Abdulmumit and the Peoples' Senate
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Jihad Abdulmumit and the Peoples' Senate
    17 Feb 2023
    The upcoming introductory webinar of the Peoples' Senate will be held on Saturday, February 18.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us