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
  • omnibus

Stand in solidarity with our Councilmember (Versus voices of white supremacy/death…)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Jan 2023
Stand in solidarity with our Councilmember  (Versus voices of white supremacy/death…)
Picketers representing the National Association of Colored Women march past the White House in Washington, DC, July 30, 1956 (Photo: AP)

                                                                                                             Stand in solidarity with our Councilmember  

                                                                                                             (Versus voices of white supremacy/death…)

 

I.
Distant echoes—Sun revolving ‘round flat
Earth— ‘round Inquisition; witch-burning;
‘round bubonic plague— 'round pre-printing
press politics…

Embalmed voices—decomposing pogrom tones—
crunch like dry leaves beneath boots of Strike-tober;
beneath street heat of George Floyd Summer; beneath
Occupy; Arab Spring— beneath history’s forward march…

II.
Prancing peacock proud, tiny stickers boasted,
“I VOTED—”
Hired her to argue and
Fight for us. Sent her to City Hall. Tolt her, “Say
what we say…” Axed her, “Amplify Our voices—
Speak truth and Voice Our choices—
while we work; babysit; help with homework; care
for loved ones/neighbors; make art, money, love, babies.”

Suddenly, sunup to sundown King Cotton voices spit
Bullwhip white noise; Spit 1619 stripes at Black backs… again…
plantation overseer voices—
Civil War amputation without anesthesia voices;
Leaking faucet, running toilet voices; Artificial
intelligence/false consciousness voices call… again…

Asthmatic nazi phlegm voices call… again…
Wheezing, wicked, weaponized, “I can’t breathe!”
Jangling, quavering, nicotine hoarse, death squad
soldier, plastic police voices call… again…
Scowling, steely, tinny fingernails across chalkboard voices;
Glock muzzle mouths to burner phone voices call… again…

Gravelly, gaslit, graveyard, good guy with gun voices
call… again… Troll farm, tiki torch, bestial, bear
spray, January 6th, criminal, Charlottesville voices call… again…
Pacific-prowling aircraft carrier filled with shit voices call… again…
Nasal, hollow, clean coal, fracking fluid/fart voices call… again…
Death rattle, decomposing system on life support voices call… again…
But, hissing, filibustering, burning cross voices—Jim Crow, Bull
Connor, Tulsa, Rosewood, Red Summer, lynching voices will not rob us
of representation…. again…
Bloody Mary, banana republican poll tax, “How many bubbles
in a bar of soap?” “How many jelly beans in a jar?” voices will
not disenfranchise us…. again…

© 2023. 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.

Black politics

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


Related Stories

BAR Book Forum: Andrea A. Davis’ “Horizon, Sea, Sound"
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Andrea A. Davis’ “Horizon, Sea, Sound"
12 April 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Black Caucus Fails on Ukraine
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Black Caucus Fails on Ukraine
15 March 2022
The members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) follow Biden's Ukraine policy in lock step. In doing so they fail their constituents and di

More Stories


  • Black Agenda Radio January 27, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio January 27, 2023
    27 Jan 2023
    Police killings increase, Nicaragua, and Cuba in Africa
  • Record Number of Police Killings in 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Record Number of Police Killings in 2022
    27 Jan 2023
    Samuel Sinyangwe is founder of the Mapping Police Violence Project.
  • Observations of Nicaragua's Revolutionary Process
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Observations of Nicaragua's Revolutionary Process
    27 Jan 2023
    Erica Caines is publisher of the website Hood Communist. She is also co-coordinator of the Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas team.
  • Cuba, Africa, and Apartheid’s End: Africa’s Children Return - Part 1
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Cuba, Africa, and Apartheid’s End: Africa’s Children Return - Part 1
    27 Jan 2023
    Isaac Saney is a Cuba and Black studies specialist and historian at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is the author of the recently published book Cuba, Africa, and Apartheid’s…
  • The State Repression of U.S. Settler Colonialism in The South: BAP ATLANTA STATEMENT
    Black Alliance for Peace Atlanta City-Wide Alliance
    The State Repression of U.S. Settler Colonialism in The South: BAP ATLANTA STATEMENT
    25 Jan 2023
    The plan for an Atlanta police training facility known as "Cop City" is the latest phase of state repression in that region. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us