State Reps. Justin J. Pearson, Gloria Johnson and Justin Jones in Nashville, Tenn., on April 7. (Photo: George Walker IV / AP)
The Tennessee Three speak in We
“Alabama got me so upset,
Tennessee made me lose my rest…”
—Nina Simone, “Mississippi Goddamn”
I.
Cherokees "on the road again.” Violently herded West.
Ethnically-cleansed on crimson Trail of Tears.
Forcibly moved off Tennessee homeland to
Oklahoma—Where land acknowledgment ain’t enough…
II.
Lorraine Motel balcony; Audubon Ballroom;
Mississippi driveway; Chicago bedroom; UCLA
lunchroom polling places—Our leaders were voted out
of office with lead Ballots: swapping steel Lumumba for
malleable Mobutu!
We were left standing on Duopoly corners harmonizing
$campaign/$election songs: “Yes, we can!” and “I feel your
Pain.” Left praying to Pentagon parties of Long COVID
capitalism for depleted uranium, white phosphorus
prosperity
Lightfoot-Drone Rangers remained…Bassackwards Strong
arm Williams Thom-ass Clarence Tribesmen trained to lead
us in the treacherous 2/4 Dance—
Donkey dung-elephant excrement dance—Every 2-4 years
III.
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
from moribund bodies high on white powder in
Corporate crack pipes—
Apartheid state bodies of banana Republican rule
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
in NRA faces of gerrymanders coming
out of caves and fronting for Fat-cats—
Civil War hawks—quacking like lame ducks
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
to bought and bossed good ole boys—Volunteer
State puppets— Paymasters’ hands up nazi asses,
Moving 2nd Amendment/Maximum profit mouths
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
to dog whistling faces of foghorn framers—
Ventriloquists called confederates—Or,
their more modern names: Fascists!
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
to whipping post politicians, rebel-yelling in
cat o’ nine tails tongue—“Tantrum” tommyrot—
branding The Peoples’ Needs: “Wanting attention!”
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
facing starred-barred,
water-hosed, dog-bitten Dixie—Hurricanes of
hardship—Awash with Stax waves of solidarity
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
Standing and delivering! Amplifying voices of ones once
Celebrated !Essential” in nightly pot and pan banging and
clanging concerts
The Tennessee Three speak in We—
Standing and delivering! Amplifying voices of shoe leather,
street heat, pavement politicians, rising in rippling waves of
Maladjusted millions… flicker of what democracy looks like??
© 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.
Homelessness isn’t policy failure—it’s policy. From 19th-century British 'clearings' to today’s police sweeps and Blackstone evictions, the playbook stays the same: displace the poor, privatize the…
To honor Kwame Ture is to condemn Zionism. Yet the lecture bearing his name platformed a speaker who calls anti-Zionism 'hate', erasing Ture’s clarity that Palestine’s liberation is inseparable from…
Decades of U.S. military aid and Israeli occupation created the conditions for the attack on Iran in an unbroken chain of imperial violence.
When oppression becomes unbearable, resistance erupts. The uprising at Delaney Hall exposes the brutality of immigrant detention and the power of collective defiance.
Three informed Arab officials, in touch with both the US and Iran, tell Middle East Eye that the White House appears to be moving closer to 'backing up' Israel.
