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

Copaganda
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
05 Jan 2022
Copaganda
AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

Copaganda

I.

You can call it Reverse Miranda—
Or—you can call it Copaganda:
highly effective $campaign, permanent budget drain
Preying on poor Peoples’ pain—Protecting 1% reign...

We are the world’s finest fiction writers
Supremely skilled with Dr. Goebbels gift for gas-
lighting—for disseminating disinformation, mis-
information, 1/2 truths—for fashioning big lies...

We deploy 70 scribes—70 Fox-box foot soldiers
as flame-throwers of fear. We bleed out budgets—
whether crime is up or crime is down—with most
Sophisticated Psy-Ops some call: “Shakedown...”

“If you come to The City of Angels ruled by
devils we will treat you like a King—Rodney King—
maybe kill your daughter, the eve of her Quinceañera?
We can’t Protect you from Capitalist deviltry we Serve...
You remain medical emergencies, unmasked coughs,
shoulder to shoulder sneezes; ripoffs and layoffs away
from sidewalk slumber in 1% tent colonies we patrol...”

II.

You can call it Reverse Miranda—
Or—you can call it Copaganda
highly effective $campaign, permanent budget drain
Preying on poor Peoples’ pain—Protecting 1% reign...

A wounded man’s ‘bleeding out’ on Oakland’s
Adams Point near the lake. The police prance
and putz around—backing his neighbors away.
A Highland Hospital emergency room nurse rushes
to aid the man. Her humanity earns threats of arrest.
For gunmen, yellow tape emblazoned: POLICE LINE
DO NOT CROSS is the preferred, time-tested treatment...

III.

You can call it Reverse Miranda—
Or—you can call it Copaganda:
highly effective $campaign, permanent budget drain
Preying on poor Peoples’ pain—Protecting 1% reign...

A B train is heading home to Harlem. A Black man
exiting collapses. A young lunch bucket brother bolts
into action. And soon a rainbow of Columbia medical
students surround them; comforting and stabilizing the
fallen one.
We riders are once again awed by humanity, solidarity
and skills!

Navy blue clouds swarm the platform and signal bad,
Bad weather. Not the drunken brutes with badges that
Descended on City Hall; urinating their beer on its steps—
Extorting the Big Apple’s first Black mayor...

Still, the first thing they do is shoo the students and lunch
bucket brother away, barking:
“This is a police matter—get back—get back!” Up goes in-
dispensable yellow tape!
Fishing in the fallen man’s pockets, they find the thimble-full
of thin blu line their racket runs on...

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet;  BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at:  

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

 

Police brutality

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Aisha
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Aisha Beliso-De Jesús’ Book, “Excited Delirium”
14 August 2024
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Pan-African Community Action
Pan-African Community Action
DC’s 2024 Crime Bill Is More War on the Black Working Class
14 February 2024
The DC Crime Bill is a continuation of the assault on the Black working class, created to expand control over Black communities via surveillanc
Little Rock Antioch’s RICO blu klux klan
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Little Rock Antioch’s RICO blu klux klan
06 September 2023
Little Rock Antioch’s RICO blu klux klan (For Franklin, the Families, and Antioch’s Fightback)
Memphis Police Chief Trained with Israel Security Forces
Alice Speri 
Memphis Police Chief Trained with Israel Security Forces
08 February 2023
The chief of the Memphis, Tennessee police department took part in trainings in Israel.
Solve Tomorrow’s Uvalde in nano seconds…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Solve Tomorrow’s Uvalde in nano seconds…
27 July 2022
                                                                                                    Solve Tomorrow’s Uvalde in nano seconds
Protesting for Jayland Walker
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Protesting for Jayland Walker
06 July 2022
The number of bullets used to kill Jayland Walker have sparked an outcry, but police kill one Black person every day in this country.
Patrick Lyoya’s Death Sentence for the Crime of “Contempt of White Cop”
Mark P. Fancher
Patrick Lyoya’s Death Sentence for the Crime of “Contempt of White Cop”
20 April 2022
Police in the United States kill an average of three people every day and one of those persons will be Black.
Biden’s DOJ Sleight of Hand on Police Reform
Netfa Freeman
Biden’s DOJ Sleight of Hand on Police Reform
22 September 2021
DOJ "reforms" are a smoke screen covering up systemic complicity with law enforcement.
The NBA’s Black Power
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
The NBA’s Black Power
02 September 2020
Black NBA players, writes Ann Garrison, are just beginning to understand the power of the attention and admiration they command.
Federal Judge Tackles Police Immunity Law
Marjorie Cohn
Federal Judge Tackles Police Immunity Law
26 August 2020
The Black judge listed the injustices of “qualified immunity,” which allows police and other government officials to escape liability for their law

More Stories


  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio May 23, 2025
    23 May 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss the legacy of Malcolm X and the state of the political party that many Black people feel trapped in. We are joined by a guest in Libya who explains the lasting…
  • Richard Medhurst
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Independent Jourmalist Richard Medhurst Targeted by Western Governments Acting on Israel's Behalf
    23 May 2025
    Our guest is Richard Medhurst. He is an independent journalist whose work has been severely impacted by state repression in the UK and Austria. He was arrested and detained in the UK in August 2024…
  • Malcolm X
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Malcolm X Legacy and Politics Today
    23 May 2025
    Anthony Rogers-Wright is a Black Agenda Report contributor and host of the WPFW program Full Spectrum, where Margaret Kimberley was recently a guest. They discussed the legacy of Malcolm X on the…
  • Libya
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    How the Libyan People Are Still Impacted By the U.S./NATO Destruction of Their State
    23 May 2025
    Our guest is Dr. Abdelkarim Kashkar. He is a physician and author who writes about politics in Libyan newspapers. He joins us from Benghazi, Libya, to discuss how the United States impacts the people…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Biden's Fate and Israel's Sadistic Revenge
    21 May 2025
    Israel is starving Gazans to death and continuing its bombing attacks on civilians. Israel also specializes in personal revenge, targeting men, women, and children who might be the subject of…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us