by BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
Commemorating
Beyond Vietnam,
Celebrating
Grassroots pregnant with
Struggle
Light up in Harlem
by BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
(BAR 7th Anniversary Celebration)
“Over truth there is light” – Moroccan saying
Friday night and a
Light burns bright
Up here in Harlem—
Bright like LED smiles
Of Douglass, Delaney
Walker, Cornish and Ida B.
We’re that light tonight…
We’re that light tonight,
Illumination
Lineage of tens of
Of thousands of torchbearers
Dealing Defenders,
Dispatches, Eagles,
Afro-Americans,
Mysteries, North Stars,
Freedom Journals, New York
Globes, Boston Guardians and
Memphis Free Speech & Headlights
We’re that light tonight…
We’re that light tonight,
Back at Riverside
Commemorating
Beyond Vietnam,
Celebrating
Grassroots pregnant with
Struggle birthing the
March on Washington
We’re that light tonight…
We’re that light tonight,
Not neon soldiers
Of Fortune 500
Foundation followers
Mumbling mule madness
We’re that light tonight…
We’re that light tonight
Streaming from Philly,
Connecticut, Jersey,
Filtering in from
Atlanta, Massachusetts,
Parts west, popping corks
On Champagne and wines
Red and white, toasting
Truth telling, illuminating
The people, instead of
“Speaking truth to power,”
Under Bill Clinton’s
Desk, like chittlin-breath
Buffoons are prone to do…
We’re the light tonight!
Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.
Raymond Nat Turner © 2013 All Rights Reserved
Ajamu Baraka delivered this speech at the opening of the 2024 United National Antiwar Coalition Conference.
The U.S. kept the U.N. Security Council from sending in troops to stop the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
The "transitional council" in Haiti is another part of the plan to maintain the dominance of imperialist forces over the island. This process is driving the nation further into a socioeconomic crisis.
O.J. Simpson's acquittal in one of the most infamous murder trials of the 20th century was celebrated as a symbolic win for the Black community against an oppressive system. However, O.J. was…
The Axis of Resistance is shining a light on the reactionary regimes in the region who remain active and willing agents of imperialism.
