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


  • EDITORIAL:ON THE MOVE: The MOVE Organization and the Teachings of John Africa, June 28 and July 1, 1975
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    EDITORIAL:ON THE MOVE: The MOVE Organization and the Teachings of John Africa, June 28 and July 1, 1975
    29 Apr 2021
    The MOVE organization’s protests provoked some of the most intense forms of police brutality and repression witnessed in the country.  
  • Mumia Abu-Jamal: State Running Scared, Trying to Make Sure He Dies in Prison 
    An Interview with Johanna Fernandez
    Mumia Abu-Jamal: State Running Scared, Trying to Make Sure He Dies in Prison 
    29 Apr 2021
    Mumia’s case always raises larger questions about the barbarism of the criminal justice system.
  • Justice was served from Warfare States’ gaslit woks
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Justice was served from Warfare States’ gaslit woks
    29 Apr 2021
    Justice was served sweet and sour in pepper spray soup—tear- gas gumbo—tears mixed with milk and milk of magnesia in crimson curry sauce; Served from warfare states’ woks on
  • The Class Collaboration of “Justice” 
    Erica Caines
    The Class Collaboration of “Justice” 
    29 Apr 2021
    After the guilty verdict, the clarity that was collectively growing became squandered with the words “it’s not justice, it’s accountability.”
  •  Reflections on Cuba’s Black Radical History, Revolutionary Health, and Grassroots Media
    Semassa Boko and Jeanette Charles
    Reflections on Cuba’s Black Radical History, Revolutionary Health, and Grassroots Media
    29 Apr 2021
    It is vitally necessary to bridge the gap in knowledge and dismantle US misinformation campaigns against Cuba’s realities for international English-speaking audiences.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us