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

Birmingham On The Hudson
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 Aug 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

by Raymond Nat Turner

“Another generation of Gordon Gekkos

Parasitic, psycho, thug CEOs

Funny money men, where anything goes

Republi-crats and Demo-con echoes”

 

Birmingham On The Hudson

by Raymond Nat Turner

Jazz Ballad Chorus

Headed for CUNY with dreams and hope

'Til gettin' swept up in Rope-and-Grope

Tuggin' down his testes on the street

Body-slammed, cursed and browbeat 

Meeting N-Y's finest's fists and feets

Given blurred vision of hoods and sheets

Bruised, bloodied victim of violent scam--

The Hudson banks on Birmingham

The Hudson banks on Birmingham.... 

Hip Hop Feel

Bull Kelly cut fire hoses and cattle prods

For Glockmiesters runnin' in death squads

Protecting and serving corporate masters

The privilege and supremacy of alabasters 

Guarding Merrill-Lynch and Killer Coke

Fighting crime's mirrors and smoke

Drivin' out the poor from dusk to dark

Like smashing Spring in Zucotti Park

 

After the Schultzes seized Native Land

Manhattan real estate rose in demand

They cashed the stolen land into rent

Maintained violently by the 1%

 

In this Age Of Metastasized Cash-ism

Wall Street's Kleptocratic Stash-ism

Mayor Bilbo's businesses blooming brisk

His real estate-driven Stop-and-Frisk

American-styled apartheid pass law

Bilbo's Gestapo's a blue cat's-paw

 

After the Schultzes seized Native Land

Manhattan real estate rose in demand

They cashed the stolen land into rent

Maintained violently by the 1%

 

Another generation of Gordon Gekkos

Parasitic, psycho, thug CEOs

Funny money men, where anything goes

Republi-crats and Demo-con echoes

Putting our lives and health at risk

Run these cons through Stop-and-Frisk

Provocateurs and pundits in cahoots

Will look hip in orange jumpsuits!

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com.

Raymond Nat Turner (c) 2012 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


  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Spoiling the Liberal Party
    18 Sep 2024
    “Never Trump” liberals, still hypnotized by the DNC spectacle, turn a blind eye to their candidate’s record and rhetoric.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    BRICS Plus, FOCAC and the Battle for the Global South
    18 Sep 2024
    The Russian-hosted summit scheduled for October will highlight the escalating struggle against Unipolarity.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    If grits ain’t groceries and Mona Lisa was a man, was Dr. Goebbels good?
    18 Sep 2024
    "If grits ain’t groceries and Mona Lisa was a man, was Dr. Goebbels good?" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Sam C. Tenorio’s Book, “Jump”
    18 Sep 2024
    This week’s featured author is Sam C. Tenorio. Tenorio is Assistant Professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Department of African American Studies at The…
  • Jon Jeter
    From Emma Goldman to Chairman Omali, the Empire’s  Crackdown on Free Speech and Racial Solidarity
    18 Sep 2024
    The ruling class is once again in a frenzied state, seeking to crush political dissent and a growing class consciousness with an iron fist in another wave of repression.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us