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

Erehwon (Shangri La Utopia)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Feb 2025
🖨️ Print Article
AI generated image of Gaza
AI generated image of Gaza found in Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu's proposal for Gaza

Baby, baby, sign our contract on
Land
Baby, baby, sign our contract on
Land

Sign it—sign it—sign it—Oooh:
It's the humane thing to do
Land without people, for people with-
Out enough land in their fat portfolios!

With crimson-stained crypto-money, we’ll
Remake it into a Land Of Milk And Honey—
Riviera Of The Middle East—
Go live your shortened lives out in peace …

Phenomenal waterfront property!
A beautiful place. Billionaire base.
On our way to space! Prime real estate!
No need to wait … Make Amerikkka Grate!

We’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.
Send you photos, videos, of luxury condos.
Just sign on the line. It’s temporary! It’s voluntary!
Ask Apache, Comanche; ask Cherokee, Cheyenne.

It’s temporary! It’s voluntary!
Be just like ’48— Until we do 2 State!
Ask Ohlone; ask Lakota, Iroquois;
Ask Sioux, Shoshone, Seminole, Navajo.

Abra-Cadaver! Bodies buried beneath the
Rubble will disappear in a day. Undergird
Hotel parking lots. Hey, come on, abandon those
Terrible tents— And collect astronomical rents!

Hocus-Pocus! We’ll create jobs. Good jobs. See the
9th hole over there! Golf balls on tees—Just toss
Us your keys …
Your uncles, your daddies, will make great caddies!
Alakazam! Pulverized concrete, busted buildings,
Rebar snaking to the stars will vanish! Disappear.
Go away. Become plush casinos for hi-roller
Gambling! Be like Cuba— before the revolution!

No more Nakbas! Won’t suffer no more. No more
Rubble. Big opportunity. Great chance to earn!
No more worry ‘bout the Right of Return! Just toss
Us those keys. Just sign on the line. Erase yourself!

Fuhgeddabout the olive trees. Just pack up and toss us the keys.
Presto! No more Skunk water! No Caterpillars bulldozing your
Homes. No 2000 lb. bombs dropped on your babies … We’ll even
Clean up unexploded bombs—Address your qualms—Prevent pogroms!

No more Nakbas … No more Trails of Tears … No more crazy,
Crisscrossing checkpoints and roads you can’t travel. No more
Hospitals and bakeries bombed. No more universities leveled.
No more mosques razed. Erase yourself. Just leave us the land!

Just self deport. It’s voluntary! It’s temporary!
In the name of the Riviera Of The Middle East—
Exodus! And live long shortened lives out in peace … This will be a
Land Of Milk And Honey/of Crypto funny money— called Erehwon …

Š 2025. 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
ethnic cleansing

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


Related Stories

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 GarzĂłn, 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.
Ramzy Baroud
Why Didn’t Iran Put Gaza on the Table? A Difficult Answer
03 June 2026
From Gaza to Tehran, from the politics of resistance to the limits of regional diplomacy, a pressing question has resurfaced amid the 2026 war:
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: The Palestine Question: Background and Solution, Edward Atiyah, 1946
20 May 2026
“It is impossible to make a national home for one people in a country inhabited by another, except by dislodging the latter.”

More Stories


  • x
    North-South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights
    Inequality in Kenya: View from Kibera
    02 Sep 2025
    Poverty i
  • x
    The Editors
    Black Agenda Report Will Return on September 10, 2025
    02 Sep 2025
    Black Agenda Report will return with our next issue on Wednesday, September 10. Please watch our new video, "Inequality in Kenya: View From Kibera," produced in collaboration with the North-South…
  • asdf
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Katrina Victims: Relocated or Forced into Exile?
    27 Aug 2025
    Black Agenda Report's late Executive Editor, Glen Ford, gave this interview a decade after Hurricane Katrina to explore how the narrative of "starting over" is being used to whitewash the forced…
  • Hurricane Katrina man on car
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Why We Remember Katrina
    27 Aug 2025
    Twenty years ago, the world witnessed more than the suffering of hurricane Katrina's victims. The United States was exposed as a failed state controlled by the cruelties of racialized capitalism.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: This is Criminal, Malik Rahim, New Orleans, September 1st, 2005
    27 Aug 2025
    “It’s not like New Orleans was caught off guard. This could have been prevented.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us