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

What Would the Ancestors Say?
Margaret Kimberley, BAR editor and senior columnist
14 Nov 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

by Raymond Nat Turner

Baptist, baritone strains:

"I've been to the mountaintop,

But this is not the mountaintop”

 

What Would the Ancestors Say?

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

I know

I know

I know...

Harriet Tubman didn't slide

In and out of the slave south

Nineteen times, $40,000 reward

Hanging over her head like a

Scimitar, or Samurai sword;

Medgar didn't die in his driveway

Like a dog put down in the pound;

Malcolm didn't die on floor

Of the Audubon Ballroom;

King didn't die on chitlin' curcuit

Balcony of the Lorraine Motel;

Fred didn't die in his bed, under

Hooves of Chicago death squads

For tomfoolery---nappy-headed

Foolishness--- Negroz shrinking

To plantation Rip Van Winkles

Hung over on Ol' Massa's

Jim Jones Juice (January '09)

The eve of world revolution...

 

I know

I know

I know...

She would be leveling her pistol,

Leaving at least a half dozen dead

Negroz, after commanding "Forward,

Or die!"

 

I know

I know

I know...

He would be tongue-lashing

Negroz with his Harlem-tinged

Tough love: "You've been had,

You've been took, you've been

Hoodwinked, you've been bamboozled!"

 

I know

I know

I know...

He would be intoning in African,

Baptist, baritone strains:

"I've been to the mountaintop,

But this is not the mountaintop,

No, and I'm concerned that if you

Continue traversing this treacherous

Trail you're on, during the dark and

Difficult days ahead, not only will you

Not get to the mountaintop, you will

Find yourselves descending to depths

So low that it will require you taking an

Elevator up eighty-six floors; climbing

Forty flights of stairs to a sub cellar of

Sin, standing on a step ladder on your

Tiptoes, just to suck the Devil's dick---

 

No, I'm afraid I can't be your drum

Major on this one---

The drones must be stopped,

The satanic wars ceased, and

The barbaric killing of other peoples'

Babies ended---forever..."

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


  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Won’t you please come to Chicago? Cheri Honkala on the Democratic National Convention
    15 May 2024
    The City of Chicago has inadvertently granted the Poor People’s Army a permit to march to the convention steps of the United Center during the Democratic National Convention.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Papa Cop’s Pedagogy of the Oppressor (Apartheid state professors or SS students?)
    15 May 2024
    "Papa Cop’s Pedagogy of the Oppressor (Apartheid state professors or SS students?)" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Anthony Rogers-Wright
    The Democrats Have Lost Their Trump Card: A Study of Three Issue Areas
    15 May 2024
    The Democrats have used the very old tactic of winning votes out of fear, recently that of the MAGA boogeyman. But this tactic is finally beginning to lose its effect.
  • Danny Shaw
    Columbia Students vs The State
    15 May 2024
    Columbia alumnus, former professor, and organizer, Danny Shaw, recounts his experience at the Columbia University Gaza Solidarity Encampment organizing with students.
  • Krys Cerisier
    South Africa’s Case Against Israel and the (Il)Legitimacy of World Governance
    15 May 2024
    The U.S. and the West as a whole maintain dominance over the Global South through their control of international institutions they wield as a weapon against nations who attempt to move from…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us