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

Halloween
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
15 Nov 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Child's funeral in Deir al-Balah, Gaza strip.
Child's funeral in Deir al-Balah, Gaza strip. (Photo: AFP)

“You belong to us, body and belongings, and we can dispose of them and do with you as we please.”

Holy Roman Emperor Louis VI in 1343. 

Curtain of darkness drops on ominous orange sky;
on Jack-o’-lantern lit electrically-starved strip—
on smothered civilian sounds; on slashed signals
of cellphone towers creating a
media-less moat of Blacked out lights/Redacted rights…
Perfect shroud for evil spirits, spooks, vengeful skeletons
sashaying from closets, spilling rivers of tears into oceans of
Blood

Halloween’s perfect for degraded devils dressed as Manifest Destiny—
whirling like dervishes —Door-to-door
Perfect for night vision-goggled goblins, goose-stepping genocide to
Gaza. Perfect for hunting houses haunted with ghosts of
Resistance…
Perfect for costumed settlers, soldiers, snipers deployed to trigger-treat!!

Trigger-treat!!
Who’s there in chain shirt? Pot helmet? Breast plate with blood-red
cloth cross—Coming to convert this house to Christianity?
Who’s in Inquisition costume, applying thumb-screw as religious
test? Who’s in Cossack costume practicing pogroms on the West Bank?
Who’s Kristallnacht-costumed…leaving shops shards of shattered glass?

Trigger-treat!!
Who are the ghouls? 3rd Reich realtors? Who’s in crimson-stained
closing clothes—’48 fatigues— going door-to-door… Who’s offering
Lead for land?

Who’s regaled as Goering? Luftwaffe overhead hitting hospitals
with Hellfire missiles? Pockmarking ambulances? Softening up
bakeries with bunker buster bombs? Who’s strafing streams of
traumatized travelers: Declaring babies “bug-splat,” families roadkill?

Trigger-treat!!
Who’s made up as Mengele? Hovering helicopter-like over hospitals?
Prescribing white phosphorus for melting incubator babies’ bones?
Who’s in Goebbels garb bobbing for Big Lies and 1/2 truths?
Whose sack’s filled with heel-clicking high fructose corn syrup goodies—
sending listeners and viewers to bed with scary, sugary, Psy-Op highs?

Trigger-treat!!
Who’s the acne-faced teen—bass finally entering his voice—
with mumbling muzzle recoiling, reddening stolen soil?
Who’s the Eichmann-costumed settler spraying automatic
weapon fire—then holding his bloody hand out for house keys?
Who’s the Wehrmacht-macho marauding as refugee camp re-
enactor, re-slaughtering women and children of Sabra and Shatila?

Trigger-treat!!
Who’s watching this colorized horror film, “Long, Looped Night
of Nakba” by burning book light?
Who’s lighting candles on graves of the dead and commemorating
Martyrs?
Who’s organizing full-throated, hoarse voice chanters; blistered feet
Shoe leather-legislators to drown mass murderers in our atmospheric
River of tears?

© 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.

Gaza
Palestine

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


Related Stories

Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Guardian Foray: All That's Not Real Is Camouflage
09 September 2026
An Open Letter from the American Left has provided cover for U.S.
Libertad para Fergie
Free Fergie Chambers: Solidarity Is Not a Crime
09 September 2026
Fergie Chambers is an American philanthropist who was arrested on July 10 in Ibiza, Spain, by order of the Trump Administration.
Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective
AISC Red Paper #2: The Multiple Fronts of Iranian Anti-Imperialism
26 August 2026
The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) offers an analysis of the Ramadan War and the multiple fronts of Iranian anti- imperi
Ramzy Baroud
Solidarity Is Not Enough
19 August 2026
Why the world must force accountability on Gaza now.
Natalia Junquera , Elena Reina
Fergie Chambers, the Millionaire Activist Arrested in Ibiza: “I am a human rights advocate”
19 August 2026
The American's lawyers, led by Baltasar Garzón, denounce a "political persecution" by Trump for his support of Palestine.
x
Craig Mokhiber
No, Israel does not have ‘a right to exist.’ Quite the contrary, actually.
04 August 2026
"Unlike the Zionist claim that 'Israel has a right to exist,' my assertion is rooted in international law.
Nicaragua
Becca Renk Foster
Nicaragua to Raise Its Voice for Palestine in Another Landmark Case at the ICJ
04 August 2026
Against the backdrop of Israel’s renewed attacks on Palestine, the World Court is set to hold public hearings in Septembe
Ramzy Baroud
The Spark in Tell: How a Village Resistance Disrupted Israel’s West Bank Strategy
29 July 2026
Palestinians have the right to defend themselves under international law and they exercised it in the town of Tell on the West Bank. 
Noah Hurowitz
Trump’s Sanctions Against the ICC Are Unconstitutional, Rights Groups Say
22 July 2026
The human rights groups’ suit came as the Trump administration vowed to destroy the International Criminal Court entirely.
Jeremy Scahill , Jawa Ahmad
Exclusive: Internal Documents Show Trump’s “Board of Peace“ Moving to Crush Palestinian Self-Determination
24 June 2026
Gaza proposals obtained by Drop Site show Trump’s board attempting to force a Palestinian surrender that Israel could not achieve in war.

More Stories


  • Black Alliance for Peace Africa Team
    The Black Alliance for Peace Africa Team Condemns the Israeli/U.S. Effort to Destabilize Somalia with the Recognition of Somaliland
    07 Jan 2026
    Israel's recognition of Somaliland undermines not just Somalia's sovereignty, but that of all African states.
  • The Editors
    Black Agenda Report Will Return January 7, 2026
    19 Dec 2025
    The Black Agenda Report team are taking our annual end of year break. We will be back with a new issue on January 7, 2026. Thanks for your support and have a great holiday season!
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio December 19, 2025
    19 Dec 2025
    In this week’s segment, we present a conversation about birthright citizenship, its benefits to Black people, and why it is under attack. But first, we hear from a U.S. activist who recently traveled…
  • People's Assembly for Peace and Sovereignty of Our Americas
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    John Parker on Solidarity with Venezuela
    19 Dec 2025
    John Parker is the coordinator of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice In Los Angeles and a leading member of the Struggle for Socialism Party. He is joining us from Los Angeles to discuss…
  • Saturday's with Renee
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley , Renee Johnston , Jared Ball
    Birthright Citizenship and the African World
    19 Dec 2025
    Margaret Kimberley was recently a guest on the Black Liberation Media program, Saturdays with Renee, with Renee Johnston and Jared Ball. They discussed the issue of birthright citizenship in light of…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us