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


  •  BAR Book Forum: Carole Boyce Davies’ “Claudia Jones: Beyond Containment”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Carole Boyce Davies’ “Claudia Jones: Beyond Containment”
    06 Apr 2022
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Carole Boyce Davies. Davies is the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters at…
  • Illegally Imprisoned Venezuelan Diplomat Faces US Court Amid a Shifting Global Context
    Roger D. Harris
    Illegally Imprisoned Venezuelan Diplomat Faces US Court Amid a Shifting Global Context
    06 Apr 2022
    Alex Saab’s April 6 hearing takes place in the setting of a mercurial world situation, where events in Ukraine may have indirect bearing on his case and on the larger US economic war against…
  • Laboring Beyond Black Representation
    Too Black
    Laboring Beyond Black Representation
    06 Apr 2022
    The allure of Black representation in high places can be very dangerous. A Black man organizes an unprecedented union victory but gets less attention than one celebrity slapping…
  • Thin Blue Wall of Silencing: Jalil Muntaqim vs. The (Language) Police
    Spirit of Mandela Writing Committee
    Thin Blue Wall of Silencing: Jalil Muntaqim vs. The (Language) Police
    06 Apr 2022
    Former political prisoner Jalil Muntaqim is still not treated as a free man. In this case, the State University of New York at Brockport succumbed to political pressure and moved his…
  • How Afro-Colombians are Fighting White Feminism
    Krys Cerisier
    How Afro-Colombians are Fighting White Feminism
    05 Apr 2022
    The struggles of Black, Indigenous, and Queer women must be part of any conversations about feminism in Latin America. Afro-Colombians like vice presidential candidate Francia Marquez exemplify this…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us