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


  • Photo by Nicholas Gregory
    Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, BAR editor and columnist
    Judge Blocks Sale of Historic African Cemetery: Poor People’s Rev. Barber Calls for End to Desecration at Moses Cemetery
    08 Sep 2021
    Activists secure a legal victory in the fight to save the Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda, Maryland.
  • Rethinking the CRT Debate, Part 3
    Patrick D. Anderson
    The Theory of Intersectionality Emerges out of Racist, Colonialist Ideology, Not Radical Politics—Rethinking the CRT Debate Part 3
    08 Sep 2021
    Recent debates about Critical Race Theory (CRT) have been abysmally uninformed at best and utterly inaccurate at worst.
  • Photo: Kevin W. Thorbourne
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)
    08 Sep 2021
    Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)   Gathering witnesses bearing beautiful collisions—
  • BAR Book Forum: Erica R. Edwards’ “The Other Side of Terror”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    ​​​​​​​ BAR Book Forum: Erica R. Edwards’ “The Other Side of Terror”
    08 Sep 2021
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Erica R. Edwards.
  • U.S. Corporate Media Watch
    Richard Medhurst and Roberto Sirvent
    U.S. Corporate Media Watch
    08 Sep 2021
    Richard and Roberto would like to dedicate this feature to Glen Ford, one of the fiercest critics of U.S. corporate media the country has ever known.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us