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

I’m no nuanced Negro, but…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
13 Oct 2021
I’m no nuanced Negro, but…
I’m no nuanced Negro, but…

I’m no nuanced Negro, but…

 

I’m no nuanced Negro—never have

been—never will be. I’m a lower the

forks, pick up the pallet, put it on the

Truck, stack the boxes; scrub the toilet,

mop the floor—lunch bucket, gloves, steel

toe boot crowd—picket line lovin’ kind of fella.

 

But, lemme see if I may help you in my

crude, crass, class—black/white—My

wrong/right; 99%/1%—Binary,

bourgeois/proletarian terms. Lemme see

if my unvarnished, rough hewn style helps…

 

Would you dare trust Slick Willy and R. Kelly

chaperoning; Jell-low Puddin’ Man bartending

your daughters’, your granddaughters’, your

nieces’ Quinceañeras, Bat Mitzvahs, Sweet Six-

teen Parties? Would you trust Ms Maxwell with

supervising the sleepovers? Would you send pre-

teen sons and grandsons to the Sierras to play

War games with a platoon of priests?

 

Yet, you suspend suspicion for acts starring

Kentucky Turtle in Kabuki Theater—silly Sinema?

You suspend suspicion for theater featuring Schmo

Munchkin-Schmo Biden-Madame Speaker slapstick…

 

You suspend suspicion, finding yourselves bamboozled

by special effects; had by stuntmen—corporate stickup

artists…

You suspend suspicion, see yourselves suckered by hollow

Heists…By artificial intelligence of Lilliputian politicians

on Wall Street strings screaming, “Hands up—

to the debt ceiling—this is a stickup, stupid muthafukkkas!”

 

 

© 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
 

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, 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: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Black Liberation

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


Related Stories

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Solidarity Against ICE and the Entire State Apparatus
11 June 2025
Popular resistance against the Trump administration in Los Angeles and othe
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Malcolm X and Human Rights in the Time of Trumpism: Transcending the Masters Tools
21 May 2025
This piece was originally published in Black Agenda Report i
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Françoise N. Hamlin and Charles W. McKinney, Jr.’s Book, “From Rights to Lives”
26 February 2025
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Austin Cole
Demanding More in the Struggle for Collective Liberation – A Conversation with Nicholas Richard Thompson, Part II
30 October 2024
As part of his research on grassroots economic projects toward Black Liberation, Austin Cole spoke with Nicholas Richard-Thompson about his com
Too Black
Unburdened by Palestine: Shedding Black liberalism for anti-imperialism
04 September 2024
Liberals are demanding that Black people in the U.S.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: In Our Hands: Thoughts on Black Music, Bernice Johnson Reagon, 1976
31 July 2024
For the late Dr.
Rosa Parks
Ingrid Banks , Jaime Alves
Antiblackness and Palestinian Humanity: A Call to Resist Fear
06 March 2024
Internationalism is the path toward Black liberation.
Joy James speaking on a panel at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice's Carceral State Reading
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Joy James’ Book, “New Bones Abolition”
13 December 2023
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Why Embracing Anti-Colonialism Made Malcolm a Marked Man
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Why Embracing Anti-Colonialism Made Malcolm a Marked Man
22 February 2023
Malcolm X was a legendary revolutionary who is still loved by millions of people.
INTERVIEW: A Voice from the Monster: Charlene Mitchell in Tricontinental, 1971
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
INTERVIEW: A Voice from the Monster: Charlene Mitchell in Tricontinental, 1971
15 February 2023
A 1971 interview with the late Charlene Mitchell reminds us of both the need for Black radical struggle against capitalism, militarism, and rac

More Stories


  • Essam Elkorghli , Matteo Capasso
    Fabricating Enemies in Times of Decline: NATO 2025 Summit
    02 Jul 2025
    The 2025 NATO summit exposed a dying empire escalating wars and austerity to hide its collapse while backing genocide in Gaza and illegal attacks worldwide.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Did New Yorkers say, No Mo Cuomo; No Mo Turkey Trot with Papa Cop?
    02 Jul 2025
    "Did New Yorkers say, No Mo Cuomo; No Mo Turkey Trot with Papa Cop?" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Terrible Origins of July 4th
    02 Jul 2025
    The causes of the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence are rarely taught in this country. The American colonists chafed under British rules limiting their settlements and feared they would end…
  • Adam Mahoney
    From Watts to D.C.: How 500 Black Neighborhoods Vanished in 45 Years
    02 Jul 2025
    America’s gentrified neighborhoods have lost 500,000 Black people, while gaining residents of every other race, a study finds.
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    FIFA and IOC Must Ban the United States and Israel from Hosting or Participating in International Sporting Events
    02 Jul 2025
    With an anticipated tens of thousands of international travelers for the World Cup and the Olympic Games, U.S. immigration policy has made it a dangerous place to visit. Both the U.S. and Israel…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us