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

Don't Play that Song
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Sep 2018
🖨️ Print Article
this is what we do overseas
Don't Play that Song....

Don’t Sing That Song ‘bout

Bombs bursting in air,

Rocket’s red glare

Gave proof through the bus

40 children were dead.

Don’t Sing That Song

that “supports the troops”

Kicking in doors at 4AM;

Urinating on bodies

of Afghan fighters;

Defecating on

the Koran; Cutting

off ears and fingers—

Sporting them like

macabre trophies…

Don’t Sing That Song of

twilight’s last gleaming;

and perilous flight of

Hellfire Missiles from

Predator Drones—

white boy toys draining

treasure and blood:

Bankrupting us morally

Don’t Sing That Song—

‘bout a warfare state

with money for missiles,

Leaden water; collapsing

bridges; broken down

trains; Tent Cities and

citizens curled up on

cardboard—chanting,

“Spare change—

you can believe in?”

Don’t Sing That Song—

that slave masterpiece—

‘bout broad stripes on

brown backs; bright stars

in scrambled brains—Home

of the brave—gunning

down Black men in the streets

Don’t Sing That Song

Giving comfort to

War House Hitler-lovers

on Capitalist Hill,

White Supreme Court, slave

master statues, and military bases

named for confederate traitors

Don’t Sing That Song

Marvin prosecuted

for its soullessness—

Rene Marie face-

lifted with Every Voice—

as Nobel Drone Ranger

rammed her under the

bus with his Peace Prize—

Don’t Sing That Song

Jimi’s guitar tried

for war crimes at Woodstock!

Our poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. 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


  • Formerly Convicted Persons Deprived of Voting Rights in Florida
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Formerly Convicted Persons Deprived of Voting Rights in Florida
    11 Nov 2022
    Patrick Berry is a counsel in the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, where he focuses on voting rights restoration and promoting fair, diverse, and impartial courts. He joins us from New York to…
  • 2022 Midterm Elections
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    2022 Midterm Elections
    11 Nov 2022
    As the midterm election approached, the charge of Russian election interference re-emerged. Margaret Kimberley discussed that and election predictions with Dr. Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon on their…
  • For African/Black Working Class and Colonized Peoples, Midterm Elections in the U.S. Offer No Relief from War, Repression and Capitalist Misery
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    For African/Black Working Class and Colonized Peoples, Midterm Elections in the U.S. Offer No Relief from War, Repression and Capitalist Misery
    09 Nov 2022
    The 50 year old neo-liberal agenda explains why political choices in this country provide little change that benefits the masses of people. The recent midterm election results will not bring about an…
  • Why Democrats Don't Win The Way They Should
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Why Democrats Don't Win The Way They Should
    09 Nov 2022
    ​​​​​​​The people prefer the initiatives which democrtatic party leadership claim to support. But their interests are those of the oligarchy and not of the voters. Slim margins of legislative victory…
  • DAKAR MANIFESTO: Africa: from Resistance to Alternatives, 2001
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    DAKAR MANIFESTO: Africa: from Resistance to Alternatives, 2001
    09 Nov 2022
    The 2001 Dakar Manifesto had a simple but unassailable claim: the total and unconditional cancellation of the odious African debt.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us