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

…In his head
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Mar 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Dr. King’s Dream come true,

In his head! Black folks way better

Off, in his head, Rev. Wright was

Wrong, in his head!

 

…In his head

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

Headin’ downtown on the D train

The other day I overheard oration—

By a fella, to a fella, from a fella 51/50

“Mexicans takin’ our jobs; they hate

Our freedoms— but blurred lines,

Beyonce’s booty, NAACP Image

Awards, Robin Thicke & recovery

Jus’ roun’ the corner; smart phone,

Dr. Dre headphones lift me outta

Poverty; smart bombs protect my

Freedoms; I got 2,000 Facebook

Friends, a poke away, who gimme

My kidney & bone marrow transplant!”

 

Booming baritone thundering in

Harmony with the train, he continued

His melodious, rhythmic catechism,

“Since ’08 things been Great,” in his

Head, Dr. King’s Dream come true,

In his head! Black folks way better

Off, in his head, Rev. Wright was

Wrong, in his head! “Yes, we can,”

In his head, mo’ Black folks have

Homes since World War II, in his

Head! Mo’ Black wealth than ever

Before, in his head; fewer Black folk

Dyin’ fo’ they 70th, in his head; mo’

Black men goin’ to college than jail,

In his head, liars figure but figures

Don’t lie, in his head, in his head,

“Change we can believe in,” in his

Head, police stopped shootin’ us

Since that beer, in his head; we

Cool, long as Big Brother brown, in

His head! Oratory swelling like a

Dark cumulus cloud, lookin’ me

Dead in the eye, “This election the

Mos’ important election ever…”

 

“The rich say that every time,” I snapped.

He leapt up like a man possessed, banshee-

Rebel- wailing, “What, you ain’t votin’?

Nigger, get away from me, you is cra-aaa-zy!”

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2014 All Rights Reserved

 

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


More Stories


  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 8, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 8, 2020
    08 Jun 2020
    The “Carceral State” is the Enemy
  • Abolitionists Drew Blood in Fighting Slavery
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Abolitionists Drew Blood in Fighting Slavery
    08 Jun 2020
    “It was fugitive slaves, who were violent in defending themselves against slave-catchers, who pushed abolitionists towards militant and sometimes violent tactics,” said Duke University historian Je
  • Community Control of Police Vs Impunity
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Community Control of Police Vs Impunity
    08 Jun 2020
    “Until our Black and brown communities get control of the police, they are going to continue to murder us with impunity,” said Frank Chapman, chair of the National Alliance Ag
  • Blacks Will No Longer Be “Chumps” for the Democrats
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Blacks Will No Longer Be “Chumps” for the Democrats
    08 Jun 2020
    Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms showed her true colors when she berated protesters, said Trinity College sociologist Dr Johnny Williams.
  • The “Carceral State” is the Enemy
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    The “Carceral State” is the Enemy
    08 Jun 2020
    The current wave of protest is correctly “targeting the commodification of Blackness by the state,” said Dr Brittany Friedman, a Rutgers University sociology professor at the
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us