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

Hair in the game…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
02 Nov 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Hair in the game…
1979 protests in Iran (Photo: Hengameh Golestan)

                                                                                                                 Hair in the Game...

Stench of burning burkas accompanying

rhythms of swishing scissors shearing sable

curls, wavy

brown manes, straight tresses salt and pepper,

And locks of sundry shades of grey and white.

Harmonizing with soprano shouts of “Death To

The Dictator!” morphing from cries for

Equal rights exploding in Red Sea streets…

Iranians are rising again! Rising in prerequisite

Movements…Maybe it’s a flashback—1909?

Maybe it’s a Mosaddegh moment? Maybe

more? Maybe this is it? Maybe it’s the next one?

Some of us remember Iranian

demonstrations— circa late 70s.

Brilliant/militant feats of flesh

and Blood engineering…

Young and strong. Marching all night long—

thru twists and turns, staunch slogan

soundtracks; Playing cat and mouse out cul-de-

sac traps set

by San Francisco’s political police—Truncheoned

thugs whose hand-eye coordination with the Shah’s

SAVAK intelligence tentacles reached out from icy

fog

Some of us remember marchers’ names. Firouz, Mansour,

Mahdi, Azad…

remember they spoke English—but read the Germans

in Farsi.

Some of us remember standing in solidarity with them

as the peacock throne collapsed

Under gargantuan weight of street heat/fire of millions of

Feet in the street.

Some of us remember our comrades’ and friends’ rapture—

rushing home and rejoicing—

Never to be heard from again…

Today we stand in solidarity with women who have hair in

The Game—Women marching through

Mushroom clouds of teargas, tsunamis of lead—Red Seas of

Death—resisting misogynist mullahs and murderous ‘morality’

Police…To topple theocratic thugs wrapped in robes of graft

Today we stand in solidarity with hearts/souls/spines of

the Common People:

Mothers, daughters, sisters, wives of warehouse workers—

of bus and truck drivers, of train operators—fierce fighters—

Once again on their long and winding road of revolution…

friction lubricated by oil workers throwing themselves in the Resistance

Martyred Mahsa Amini’s the Rock of Gibraltar bloodthirsty clerics lifted

to

drop

on

Their own scarlet-stained sandals, crimson-covered combat

boots— TEACHing

Us how we must take on our own Texas Taliban/Florida

fundamentalists…

© 2022. 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.

Iran
Mahsa Amini

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


More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Fighting Trump and the Black Collaborators Too
    24 Sep 2025
    Fighting Trump’s racist attacks is obviously a necessity but that fight must include opposing the Black misleadership class and their collaboration.
  • Hugo Chávez Frías
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: Statement at the 61st UN General Assembly, President H.E. Hugo Chávez Frías, 2006
    24 Sep 2025
    “ U.S. imperialism…is making desperate efforts to consolidate its hegemonic system of domination. We cannot allow this to happen.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Gaza Is Not Rwanda: Its Suffering Should Not Perpetuate that of Congolese
    24 Sep 2025
    Likening the suffering of Gazans to that of Rwandan Tutsis perpetuates the narrative that has dominated the African Great Lakes Region for 30 years, allegedly justifying the sacrifice
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    On the Right to Exist: Rosh Hashana Represents a Choice for Jews of Conscience, a New Year for Zionism, or a Commitment To a New Era of Jewish Values
    24 Sep 2025
    This Rosh Hashana falls during an ongoing genocide, creating a profound moral crisis for Jewish people. The holiday demands a rejection of the state committing these acts in the name of Jewish safety.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    (Don’t) “Say his name!”
    24 Sep 2025
    "(Don’t) 'Say his name!'" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us