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

Malcolm X Tic-Tac-Toe in the Age of…Austerity?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 May 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer

 

Malcolm X Tic-Tac-Toe in the Age of…Austerity?

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

Vertical, diagonal, horizontal moves

Of Malcolm X, martyr, giant, live on

Like simple grid, paper and pencil games

Of Noughts and Crosses, 3-in-a-row—

Tic-Tac-Toe in the age of… Austerity

 

X, like exciting, expanding, extending,

X, like exalting, exemplary, example,

Excelling, exceeding— revolutionary as

Exponential, unlimited—far as you dare!

 

O, as in hollow, phony, posture, nothing!

O as diversion, like COINTELPRO, Psy-

Op or false consciousness like blue-collar

Workers masquerading as middle-class!

 

3-in-a-row, X versus O

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer!

 

Africom boots on the Congo

Banksters bagging big dough

Mother Africa their hoe

A peculiar quid pro quo

Slaves cheering status quo

Their beer full of GMO—

Madison Avenue mojo!

 

3-in-a-row, X versus O

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer!

 

Negroz go pianissimo

Fiery X’s blocked by O,

Rich white house Negro,

Attorney Generalissimo

Super of Guantanamo

Teachers rise against O

Working-class Tic-Tac-Toe!

 

3-in-a-row, X versus O

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer!

 

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


  • Venezuelan support for Maduro
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Larry Johnson
    U.S. Aggression Against Venezuela
    07 Jan 2026
    Director of the North-South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights, Ajamu Baraka, joins Spotlight on Press TV to analyze the latest developments in Venezuela, how and why this illegal…
  • The Editors
    Venezuela 2026: Black Agenda Report Special Issue
    07 Jan 2026
    Black Agenda Report Special Issue on Venezuela.
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Venezuela, Even More Than Palestine, Is the Linchpin of a Consistent Radical Left in The Era of Global Neofascism Led by the U.S.
    07 Jan 2026
    Solidarity with Palestine tests morality, but solidarity with Venezuela tests politics. The recent U.S. intervention demands a radical left moving from moral outrage to a material confrontation with…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: National Liberation: Categorical Imperative for the Peoples of Our Americas, Manuel Maldonado-Denis, 1982
    07 Jan 2026
    “The national independence struggles of the peoples of Our America have simultaneously been anti-imperialist struggles from Tupac Amaru up through our times.”
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    STOP the killers!
    07 Jan 2026
    "STOP the killers!" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us