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


  • Unity Is an Imperative: Reclaiming African Liberation Day, 60 Years On
    Tanupriya Singh
    Unity Is an Imperative: Reclaiming African Liberation Day, 60 Years On
    31 May 2023
    African liberation will not be realized without Pan-African unity and socialism, as Kwame Nkrumah made clear at the founding of the Organization of African Unity, the precursor to the African Union.
  • Violations Mar Sudan’s Soon-to-Expire Ceasefire, Paramilitary RSF Occupies Communist Party’s Office
    Pavan Kulkarni
    Violations Mar Sudan’s Soon-to-Expire Ceasefire, Paramilitary RSF Occupies Communist Party’s Office
    31 May 2023
    The ceasefire agreement between rival military factions in Sudan was extended on May 29 as it was on the verge of collapsing. Civilians are suffering, and the Sudanese Communist Party is under attack.
  • U.S. Government Approves Abinader's Racist Violence
    Babyson Pierre
    U.S. Government Approves Abinader's Racist Violence
    31 May 2023
    The Dominican Republic continues its policies of deporting Dominicans of Haitian descent, and discriminating against Black Dominicans, and it does so with the permission of the United States. The…
  • Afghanistan News Update #18
    Black Alliance for Peace Solidarity Network Afghanistan Committee
    Afghanistan News Update #18
    31 May 2023
    This Black Alliance for Peace Afghanistan update provides analysis of media coverage of the US role in Afghanistan and also links to many news sources.
  • Black Agenda Radio May 26, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 26, 2023
    26 May 2023
    Black Women's Alliance in Brazil, expunging criminal records, and the Durham Report and the FBI.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us