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

What The Video Shows
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
01 Dec 2015
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR's poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Video, as police and military malefactors frequently remind us, is two dimensional.

What The Video Shows

by BAR's poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t trust your lying eyes

The officer drove 6 min.
Like Mario Andretti impersonating
Evel Knivel on Chicago streets
The officer alighted from his vehicle
Firing and fearing for his safety and
The safety of his fellow officers…

Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t trust your lying eyes

After being struck by several rounds 
Fired by the responding officer, the 
Suspect assumed a combative prone
Position and began resisting the officer’s
Fire…

Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t trust your lying eyes

Notice the suspect’s body refusing to
Stay still; notice the suspect’s body 
bouncing, twisting—that’s resisting
Notice the suspect’s body refusing to
Just die—that’s resisting—he’s resisting!

Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t trust your lying eyes
The officer feared for his safety and
The safety of his fellow officers whose
Guns were holstered
The officer feared for his safety and
The safety of his fellow officers and
The safety of the suspect, so they let
Him ‘bleed out’—a split–second decision
this work’s hard enough without second-guessing 

Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t trust your lying eyes

Well, on second viewing, the officer may
Have used poor judgment, may have over-
Reacted; the officer may need more training

Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t trust your lying eyes

Video’s two dimensional—what you think you
See is not what you really see—take that hospital 
Bombed
In Afghanistan—it wasn’t really bombed—it only
Looked bombed. It only looks like splattered blood
on ICU walls. That head only looks like it’s detached 
from its torso. It only looks like 32 people were killed…
Video’s two dimensional—what you think you
See is not what you really see—so repeat after me:
Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t trust your lying eyes

Raymond Nat Turner Š 2015 All Rights Reserved

subscribe to our free weekly email notifying you of new content published at Black Agenda Report

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


More Stories


  • A police tactical vehicle leaves the scene with officers in fatigues hanging on
    Black Alliance For Peace
    Black Alliance for Peace Baltimore Says No to Cop City
    10 Oct 2023
    The phenomenon of militarized policing is not confined to the city of Atlanta. The city of Baltimore, Maryland is also planning its own "Cop City" and to add insult to injury, affiliating with HBCU…
  • Protest for Eritrea
    Dr. Fikrejesus Amahazion
    Eritrea's Defiance and Independence Remain Its Supreme Crime
    10 Oct 2023
    Eritrea has been the target of a media campaign orchestrated by the US and its allies who act in collusion with corporate media. These narratives demonize Eritrea and seek to weaken this country…
  • Kenyan High Court
    Dzyuya Walter
    High Court Blocks Deployment Of Kenyan Police To Haiti
    10 Oct 2023
    The Kenyan government has been temporarily blocked from sending a police force to occupy Haiti, a U.S. instigated plot to undermine the sovereignty of that nation.
  • Cover of "Thinking While Black"
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Daniel McNeil’s Book, “Thinking While Black”
    10 Oct 2023
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Daniel McNeil. McNeil is a professor in the Department of History at Queen’s…
  • Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the African People's Socialist Party
    David S. D'Amato
    The FBI’s Long History of Criminalizing Dissent
    10 Oct 2023
    The indictment of the Uhuru 3 is part of a long history of persecution and prosecution of the Black liberation movement.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us