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
  • omnibus

Leaders I lost— SORRY I LOST…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
20 Aug 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

My leaders were chased

To China, Tanzania, Cuba and

France by lynch mobs and

Death squads posing as public servants—

I LOST

 

Leaders I lost— SORRY I LOST…

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

I.

Even in August’s sauna,

Leaders of the Cristal,

Judas Quisling class

Have it made in the shade!

 

When the Unca Jims,

Jealousies, Andy Tongues,

Slutty Professors, and

Other muleheads who

Savor the flavor

Of leather, gather

At the feet of the

Great Emancipator,

Huffin’ and puffin’

‘Bout recent wrongs—

Same ol’ songs— sanitizing

The ‘60s, hiding worn

Harnesses to the mule;

Thank gawd almighty they’ve

Overcome tall principles,

Steep integrity and

Truth-telling decades ago—

Dumping on Dr King

For Burger King, Ronald Mc Donald,

Colonel Sanders, Popeye’s, liquor

Franchises and sub-contracts,

Rapprochement with Reaganite reaction paid

 

II.

My leaders were voted

Out of office in penitentiary

Yards, Lorraine balcony, Audubon

Ballroom, bedroom-voting booths—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

My leaders were chased

To China, Tanzania, Cuba and

France by lynch mobs and

Death squads posing as public servants—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders had hearts

Of Harriet, Toussaint and Nat;

Spines of Sitting Bull, Dessalines and

Osceola; tongues of Truth, Douglass and

Harrison; pens of Wells, Walker and

Garrison, strip searches, x-rays and

Metal detectors don’t detect—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders sprouted up

From Strange Fruit-fertilized

Black soil saturated by fire

Hoses and spittle of Strom, Bull,

Lester, Hoover bloodhounds and

Other Amerikkkan apartheid actors—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders first served, and

Later, hanging judges, not chads

Confirmed them in “superior” courts

Inaugurating them with more boots

Batons, bullets, mud-slinging and

Negative campaigning, COINTELPRO-style—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders were elected

To 4x9, windowless offices

Open twenty-four, seven,

Three hundred -sixty-five

Days a year, 3, 4 even 5 decades—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders have #s

Like 09-A3775 and 77A4283

I can’t call when I wake up

In a cold sweat, screaming—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders make less

Than a dollar a day

And ain’t Rollex-models

Rollin’ somethin’ shiny and German

With ALEC’s hand up

Their asses, making their

Mouths move every 2-4 years

With promises, promises, promises,

Promises only fools and babies believe—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2013 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


  • Mike Davis On Pandemics, Super-capitalism and the Struggles of Tomorrow
    Sharif Abdel Kouddous
    Mike Davis On Pandemics, Super-capitalism and the Struggles of Tomorrow
    22 Apr 2020
    Capitalist globalization means accepting a permanent triage of humanity and dooming part of the human race to eventual extinction. 
  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of April 20, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of April 20, 2020
    20 Apr 2020
    Covid-19 and the Black Working Class
  • "Decolonizing" Science in Multi-Language Africa
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    "Decolonizing" Science in Multi-Language Africa
    20 Apr 2020
    South African communicator and journalist Sibusiso Biyela wrote an article on “decolonizing” science so that it is accessible to the country’s many indigenous language gr
  • Public Housing Neglect Creates Lethal Trap
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Public Housing Neglect Creates Lethal Trap
    20 Apr 2020
    “You have these areas that are not clean and, on top of that, you have folks that don’t have access to health care because of racism and capitalism,” said Philip McHarris, a Y
  • Covid-19 and the Black Working Class
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Covid-19 and the Black Working Class
    20 Apr 2020
    “Social distancing is sometimes not an option for us,” said New York City activist Betty Davis at a Black is Back Coalition national teleconference.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us