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

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


  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio February 20, 2026
    20 Feb 2026
    In this week’s segment, we hear from an author who has documented how coroners cover up deaths in police custody. We also present a discussion about LeBron James, Spike Lee, and Zionist influence in…
  • No war with Iran
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    U.S. Hybrid War and the Plan to Attack Iran
    20 Feb 2026
    All signs indicate that a US attack on Iran is imminent. The Trump administration sent an aircraft carrier group to the region, and another is on the way.
  • Terence Keel
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Coroner's Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence
    20 Feb 2026
    In his book, "The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence," Dr. Terence Keel investigates how coroners and medical examiners omit key information about police…
  • Lebron James
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Nothing But Great Things: LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Israel
    20 Feb 2026
    Margaret Kimberley was recently a guest on the Revolutionary Change podcast with co-hosts Jen Perelman and Peter Hager. In these excerpts of their conversation, they discussed the intersection…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Marco Rubio Reveals the White Supremacy at the Heart of Western Foreign Policy
    18 Feb 2026
    Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in public what is usually unspoken but accepted around the world. Western foreign policy is controlled by the doctrine of white supremacy. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us