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

The Unemployment Question(s)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Feb 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Livin’ on nothin’, while hunger works full time

No wonder, some brothers stumble into crime.

 

The Unemployment Question(s)

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

Licking bitter flaps on unemployment envelopes

somewhere under the rainbow

Lies

true hues

in bright Red,

Black

and dark Blues:

 

Drawin’ unemployment’s like drawin’ straws

Drawin’ unemployment’s like drawin’ straws

We come up short under rich folks’ laws.

 

Livin’ on nothin’, while hunger works full time

Livin’ on nothin’, while hunger works full time

No wonder, some brothers stumble into crime.

 

And the rich cry, “...crime, crime, crime” every day

And the rich cry, “...crime, crime, crime” every day

While cocaine’s trafficked by the C-I-A.

 

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

Stack-o-papers to fill out, askin’ dumb shit!

 

“State here the reason you’re out of work.”

“Answer the following then report to the clerk.”

“Will you accept work in your usual trade?”

“What’s your income with benefits paid?”

“Do you own a farm, or a ranch?”

“Do you have a savings? What branch?”

“Did you look for work all this past week?”

“Where did you go, with whom did you speak?”

“Are you a citizen of the U.S.?”

“If answering ‘No’, then why not ‘Yes’?”

“Have a seat and wait to be seen”

“Any questions about what we mean?”

“Anyone in line who voluntarily quit?”

“Step out — go over there and sit”

“Sorry, you can’t be seen until ten —”

 

“Provided, you fill this out for WIN...”

 

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

Appointment

with

revolution

When we fit…

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 1986 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


  • Don’t Let the Democratic Party Bury the Movement
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Don’t Let the Democratic Party Bury the Movement
    09 Jul 2020
    The Black movement will be asphyxiated by the ubiquitous fingers of the Democratic Party if it does not build independent nexuses of people’s power.
  • Freedom Rider: The Police Defunding Con Game
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: The Police Defunding Con Game
    08 Jul 2020
    Cutting police budgets without establishing public control over their behavior doesn’t solve the problem, and invites politicians to shuffle budget numbers around like a three-card monte swind
  • Beware of Right Deviations That Have Emerged from the Three-Headed Crisis of US Imperialism
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Beware of Right Deviations That Have Emerged from the Three-Headed Crisis of US Imperialism
    08 Jul 2020
    Libertarianism, like all capitalist ideologies, is bound with white supremacy.
  • The State and White supremacy: The Inextricable Link
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    The State and White supremacy: The Inextricable Link
    08 Jul 2020
    The demand for “justice” by the public had the ironic result of re-legitimizing the state as an institution that could in fact render justice – but only an empowered people can establish a just ord
  • Oooh, what a lil’ Movement can do…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Oooh, what a lil’ Movement can do…
    08 Jul 2020
    “There are decades where nothing happens;  and there are weeks where decades happen.” ― Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us