by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner
Working people of Ferguson are still standing tall against
Judas Quisling Steppin’ Fetchit house Negroz telling them to
“Get off the streets,” “Go home, “ “Go back to sleep, watching
Oprah, Ellen, reruns of ‘Roots’”
Hail the Heroic Mid-west Bank: Ferguson
by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner
Day 10 and heroic African-American youth,
Poor and working people of Ferguson are still
Standing tall, like Tunisians and Egyptians, like
Sowetoans, like Justice For Oscar Grant activists,
Like Occupy Oakland, like Occupy Wall Street,
Like the People’s Organization for Progress, like
Madison capitol occupiers, like Montgomery Bus
Boycotters, like Columbia University students,
Like 41st and Central Panthers, like Native Americans
On Alcatraz and at Wounded Knee, like ILWU Local 10
Still standing tall against SOBs— Sons of Bull,
Sons of Beauregard, Sons of Byron, Lester, George—
Robocop-clad confederates spitting tobacco juice-
Laced epithets ,under Stonewall Jackson’s command…
Day 10 and heroic African-American youth, poor and
Working people of Ferguson are still standing tall against
Judas Quisling Steppin’ Fetchit house Negroz telling them to
“Get off the streets,” “Go home, “ “Go back to sleep, watching
Oprah, Ellen, reruns of ‘Roots’” Judas Quisling Steppin’ Fetchit
House Negroz who—any minute—might grab a good ol’boy’s
Baton and whip him some black militant ass— “Didn’t I tell you
To get your black ass off this street— Didn’t I?” Didn’t I tell you
To get in the house— Didn’t I?! Didn’t I?! Didn’t I?! Didn’t I?!
Day 10 and heroic African-American youth, poor and
Working people of Ferguson are still standing tall, shoulder
To shoulder with activists from Motown, Chitown, Oaktown,
Philly, D.C., City of Angels, The Big Apple, like the
“Function At The Junction,” “‘cause everybody’s gonna
Be there/got people comin’ from everywhere—“ nothing
Sinister or conspiratorial, it’s solidarity or proletarian
Internationalism, like when Chinese and Vietnamese
Issued statements supporting African-American struggles
During the 60s; like Abraham Lincoln Brigade fighters
Fighting side by side with freedom fighters in Spain; like
Cuban soldiers fighting side by side with Angolans and
South Africans defeating colonialism, weakening apartheid;
Like “outside agitator” King going in Memphis in solidarity
With sanitation workers, and “outside agitators” coming with
With clubs, guns, teargas for anything Black & not crawling…
Day 10 and heroic African-American youth, poor and
Working people of Ferguson are still marching, becoming
Clearer that Mike Brown is Melvin Black is Malice Green,
Arthur McDuffie, Eleanor Bumpurs, Eula Love, Leonard
Deadwyler, Gregory Clark, Jerry Lee Aime, Rosewood, Black
Wall Street, Tulsa, MOVE, Philly, Tuskegee, Eric Garner…
Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com Raymond Nat Turner © 2014 All Rights Reserved
Jemma Decristo is a community organizer in San Francisco, where a Black mayor and other officials enact policies against the unhoused and the poor and where gentrification continues. She joins us…
Because Joe Biden and democrats act on behalf of the oligarchy instead of the people, they now risk a mid-term election loss. His solution to this political problem is to speak endlessly…
A 1969 interview with a founder of Detroit’s League of Revolutionary Black Workers reminds us of the radical genius and hope of Black labor.
Rwanda and Uganda are again plundering the Congo. As always they do so with the backing of the U.S. Ann Garrison interviews Maurice Carney, Executive Director of Friends of the Congo.
a few flock notes for jaimie breezy branch “The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery” —Paul Robeson
