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

F Train Lynching: Papa Cop's wink and nod
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 May 2023
F Train Lynching: Papa Cop's wink and nod
Protesters in the subway on May 6, 2023 (Photo: Alex Kent / Hell Gate)

                                                                                                                            F Train Lynching:  

                                                                                                                   Papa Cop’s wink and nod

I.
Blessed with beautiful voice, and chops for
Moonwalking moving trains. Trains and
train stations his stages, his concert halls.
Smiles, cheers, applause, crowds fed him.

He was 14 when death stole the show—
danced down his youth, his joy.
He was 14 when his Mother—the one he
Loved most—was murdered.

Plasticity. Un-molded mind. After testifying
at his Mother’s murderer’s trial PTSD was
His dance partner. He lived with
Aunts between peaks/valleys; between dances

II.
Broadway-Lafayette station. Yellow-taped F Train
car and platform. Organized crime-scene from cruel
Capitalism
revealing its rotten ass on International Workers Day.

1st day of Mental Health Month. Young, gifted, Black man’s mentality
treated on train floor.
Black Lives Matter again: Cigarette butts on Minnesota streets; Staten Island
sidewalks; back roads of Georgia

Papa Cop’s ‘plan’ calls for 1,000 Vitamin S-fueled
badges—Ridding rolling refuge of unhoused ones—
‘Sweeping’ flesh and blood ‘trash’ from MTA trains.
Criminalizing poverty.

Papa Cop’s ‘plan’ calls for not acting Amish—Raising roofs!
Calls for he and Gov. Hokum not masking city air with sweet saw
dust scents! Not drowning city noise with Go-Go hammers, screaming
saws; rebar-bending, concrete pouring on Un-ceded Leni-Lenape land

Pentagon groomed, self-deputized, 2nd Amend Meant
minded man. Gravitational pull toward policing Black bodies.
Killed in Kabul, Baghdad, Tripoli with impunity? Then boarded
aircraft before farmworkers, teachers, nurses, nannies and cooks?

Chokehold concert? Vigilante law’s long white arm: 30-45 seconds…
Blood flow to brain stopped. Unconsciousness. Bravo! 6-15 minutes…
Dancer’s lean legs flailed.
Last sparks of life wrung from his hungry, thirsty, limp, Black body

Avaricious, ethnic-cleansing, rentier class views lynching fondly. Now’s
the time: Dish the dirt—flip the script! Unearthing arrests! Let character
Assassination begin! Let Fox-box foot soldiers, paper of record scribblers
Weaponize word pictures: “He got what was coming to him!”

III.
F Train Executioner not charged like denizens of darker hue? Viral video?
Don’t trust your lying eyes! There are many, many things we don’t know,
says Papa Cop.
“Allow the investigation to run its course…”

People of All Seasons: Arab Spring, George Floyd Summer,
Strike-tober, Occupy respond—
Leveraging shoe leather leaps onto tracks—shutting down
Business as usual with global warming, fiery Street Heat!

© 2023. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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 and PayPal.

Eric Adams
Unhoused; Homeless; Eric Adams; New York City
Jordan Neely

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


Related Stories

JP Sloan
all their deaths were ruled suicide
15 January 2025
for Aiyana, for Tommie, for Jordan
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
F Train Lynching: Papa Cop’s wink and nod
08 January 2025
I.
Jon Jeter
The White Settlers’ Bizarre Economic Strategy of Terrorizing Black People
11 December 2024
Jordan Neely's killing and the subsequent acquittal of Daniel Penny can be seen as part of the reactionary existential panic felt by whites whe
Daniel Penny is The State
Ashoka Jegroo
Daniel Penny is The State
17 May 2023
Daniel Penny choked Jordan Neely to death on a New York City subway.
The Murder of Jordan Neely Abetted by Eric Adams, Worst Black Mayor in the Country
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Murder of Jordan Neely Abetted by Eric Adams, Worst Black Mayor in the Country
10 May 2023
New York City's mayor isn't just a self-interested member of the Black political class.
Papa Cop
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Papa Cop
30 March 2022
                                                                                                         Papa Cop
New York Bail Reform Fight
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
New York Bail Reform Fight
23 February 2022
Black legislators in New York are defending their legislation which reduces the use of cash bail.
Elections and the Illusion of Black Political Power
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Elections and the Illusion of Black Political Power
03 November 2021
Black politicians may be openly conservative or pretend leftists but their constituents rarely get what they need.

More Stories


  • Black Alliance for Peace Africa Team
    Now is the Time for All Anti-Imperialists and All Justice Loving People to Stand Unequivocally in Defense of Burkina Faso
    07 May 2025
    The Black Alliance for Peace demands an end to U.S. and Western interference in Burkina Faso, the rejection of neocolonial policies in the Sahel, and a stance affirming Africans' rights to…
  • Maxwell Evans
    South Side Neighbors Want Housing Protections Before City OKs ‘Luxury’ Hotel Near Obama Center
    07 May 2025
    Community residents say that Chicago's City Council should pass a slate of housing protections centered on low-income renters instead of advancing plans for a hotel near the Obama Center site.
  • Allen Myers
    Vietnam: A Victory Never To Be Forgotten
    07 May 2025
    Vietnam’s defeat of U.S. forces stands as a landmark anti-colonial victory, proving that determined resistance can overcome even the world’s most powerful military—yet its legacy remains fiercely…
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 2, 2025
    02 May 2025
    In this week’s segment, we hear about an upcoming conference dedicated to Black, radical organizers in the U.S. But first, we have an update on the Congo and the principles of agreement between Congo…
  • congo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Congo and Trump's Mineral Deal
    02 May 2025
    The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Rwanda recently signed a Declaration of Principles in Washington. Is Rwanda ending its M23 group’s incursion into the DRC?
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us