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

History’s Hired US
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
11 Dec 2024
resistance

Artificial intelligence cries
Freeze-dried tears over twisted,
Cruel contradictions of
Capitalism …

Corporations are people—yet
Never labor giving
Birth. Never cutting umbilical cords.
Never nursing newborns, night shift.

We are not war criminals …   Yet,
Weakness is our war crime!
Our movements not yet muscular,
Militant, robust—numerous enough …

Jobless, yet blessed with majestic work!
Penniless—yet far, far richer than spiritual
Paupers primping, preening, prancing and
Posing as the “World’s Richest!”

History’s hired us. She shouted, “Start immediately!
Erect edifices of truth reaching for the Sun and
Arresting light—Capturing castles of compassion …
Build your better world, mirroring recurring dreams!”

She commanded, “Comrade hearts—No left-
Sounding circular firing squads! Show up on time!
Lend muscle! Gift grey matter militantly— And
I will roll a big red toolbox your way for work: 24/7!”

She exhorted, “Weaponize white men in your wallets and
I’ll roll toolbox overflowing with ‘Nader Hour’ vice grips;
‘Democracy Now’ drills; ‘Upfront’ flashlights; ‘HardKnock’
Hammers; and ‘Building Bridges’/‘Move The Crowd’ magic!”

History ordered, “Hand over genocidal real estate thieves;
Slavers—and enablers—in your wallets; And,
I’ll roll toolbox loaded with ‘Letters and Politics’ pliers; ‘Jazz
Line’ levels; ‘Full Circle’ compasses; ‘Bay Native Circle’ blueprints!”

She shouted, “Purge your wallets of hypocrites and I’ll roll toolbox
Stuffed with ‘Law and Disorder’/‘Counter Spin’ saws slicing thru
White noise; ‘Africa Today’ awls piercing leather lies; ‘Flashpoints’
Files/‘Against The Grain’ sandpaper smoothing ‘Old Hickory’ splinters!”

“I’ll roll ‘On The Ground,’ holding ‘Houston Jazz Spotlight,’
Illuminating ‘Transitions On Traditions;’ ‘Talkies’ tape measure—
Measuring twice/cutting once— your losses to remote-controlled
Traitor-thugs …           And those suffocating confederate cults …”

© 2024. 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.

Working Class
revolution
Capitalism

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
DOGE— Department Of Grifter Enrichment
07 May 2025
“Empathy is the bane of western civilization.” 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
March, March, March… (For Million Worker March and Brother Ray Quan)
30 April 2025
1. Dust dances on sunbeams streaming through busted eyes; Lunch bucket language no longer lingers
Jocelyn Figueroa
Working Homeless People: Laboring Without a Roof
23 April 2025
For millions, a job is no longer enough to afford housing—yet the myth that homeless people don’t work still dominates public opinion.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
One Spring Day …
09 April 2025
“I believe there is yet a spirit of resistance z
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Chasing Chuck Tumor's testicular cancer—or building Resistance to Stage 4 Capitalism?
26 March 2025
Billionaire bought and bossed talk shop. Alcohol, Geritol and Protocol reign shares traded on the floor. Well-off windbags—
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
The Fog of Class War
12 March 2025
A class consciousness among the working masses, one that takes the issue of race seriously, is critical at this moment.
Working Families Party
David K. Cobb
The Working Families Party and Fusion Voting: A Historical and Political Analysis
12 March 2025
The Working Families Party presents itself as a political party that works for the interest of working class people.
Elon Musk
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Is this ‘Constructive Engagement' 2.0— Or, Freddo frontin’ for Heil tech Hitler?
05 March 2025
“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the
Chuck Squatriglia
Feds Lend Tesla $465 Million to Build Model S
26 February 2025
Elon Musk is Donald Trump's right-hand man and viewed as an evil incarnate, but it was Barack Obama's administration which bailed out Tesla wit
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The fire this time … (as Amiri tolt me)
29 January 2025
“Scratch a lie—find a thief !”

More Stories


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: A Black Man’s Protest, Lamine Senghor, 1927
    14 May 2025
    “It is a lie that slavery has been abolished. It has only been modernized.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Southern Panther Malik Rahim
    14 May 2025
    In “A Southern Panther,” movement elder Malik Rahim talks about his lifetime of battling racism and fighting for peace and environmental justice.
  • Jon Jeter
    Fleeing Imaginary Persecution at Home, South African ‘Refugees’ May Find the Grass is Not Greener in America
    14 May 2025
    The Trump administration’s decision to fast-track asylum for white South Africans—claiming "persecution"—is a political stunt, ignoring that they remain among the wealthiest globally, still…
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    How the GOP is Saving the Fossil Fuel Industry From Trump…With Help From the Democrats
    14 May 2025
    Despite Trump’s tariffs battering the fossil fuel industry, bipartisan policies, including Democrat-backed subsidies, are rescuing Big Oil, locking in climate destruction while working-class…
  • Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
    The Black Alliance for Peace Calls for Resistance Against the Accelerating Imperialist War on Black/African Peoples in Our Americas
    14 May 2025
    Accelerating crises of imperialism in Haiti, Ecuador, and beyond highlight the urgent need for regional Pan-Africanist, anti-imperialist unity and strategy.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us