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
In the wake of the HIV-AIDS epidemic of a generation ago, Black intellectuals argued that “until we eliminate structural inequalities, we’re not going to eliminate the health disparities in medicin
The young Black people that charged the US government with genocide at a UN conference in Geneva, Switzerland in 2014 helped set the stage for local legislation “for some form of apology and repara
Just because enslaving and stealing labor from Black people was perfectly legal prior to 1868, America should not get to ignore descendants of the people who supplied this nation with 246 years of
The Republicans lie about the harm they do to the planet, and the Democrats lie and pretend they’re not doing the very same things.
Zeese never wavered in his opposition to the corporate duopoly, white supremacy, and the forces of militarism.
