Cuba sí, Jersey NO!

by Raymond Nat Turner

(For Dequi & Ralph)

I.Hands up…

Her hands were up and

She was shot down like

Michael Brown; she couldn’t

Breathe but they left her for

The coroner, like Eric Garner—

But Ida B, Rosa

Luxemburg and Mama

Harriet had other

Plans for Assata…

Her bloodthirsty captors

Tortured her until

Toussaint, Dessalines,

John Brown and other

Ancestors conspired

With her comrades like

Marilyn Buck, John

Brown of her generation,

Deciding “night time

Is the right time,” a

Good flight time, for

Fleeing torturers, and

Like Mama Harriet

She “hit the road, Jack“

Following the North

Star south in footsteps

Of freedom fighter

Robert Williams to

Open armed welcome

90 miles offshore,

And a thousand miles

From her hell/Dixie

II. Celebrating Cuban 5

Now, they were serious

‘bout “smoking them out

Of their holes,” “draining

The swamp,” infested

With terrorists up

In Florida, they

Were serious about

Ferreting out gusanos,

Terrorists, thick like

Lice hobnobbing with Nazis,

Ton-Ton Macoute and

Other cutthroats, saboteurs

Sipping rum and boasting

Of bombing passenger

Planes, hotels, power lines…

Guess the Cuban 5

Knew all along that

If Architects of

Torture wanted to

Wage a real war on

Terror, plenty NY

99 cents stores

Sell mirrors… razors…

III. Shut Guantanamo/ free ‘em all!

Orwellian as

Ever, code-switching

‘Interests’ translating

Into spying and

Lying, Commander

Unpacked politics

As concentrated

Expression of

Economics,

War with less violent

Means, diplomats

Subbing for Marines…

Like the Nixon visit,

Following “ping-pong diplomacy—”

And China’s off and running

On the “capitalist road” we see…

Rulers sometimes move to remove

Some things from the headlines,

While sharpening long knives and

Memories, having no deadlines…

Was street heat hurting Wall Street

Default swappers, sub-primers, too big

To fail, in the midst of seasonal retail?

“Our interests,” “our values,” & Cubans

Freeing 53, inspiring his new lust for liberty?

Raise our hands shouting these demands:

Try swindlers and banksters like Wells-Fargo

Keep pushin’ for ending the embargo

Exonerate Assata, shut Guantanamo

Withdraw slave-patrols, AKA po-po

Convene Peoples’ Tribunals under Jericho

Host numero uno at Harlem’s Apollo—

Shout something that we all now know

It’s way past time to let ‘em ALL go:

Ruchelle ‘Cinque’ Magee, 49 years

Hugo ‘Yogi’ Pinell, 49 years

Romaine ‘Chip’ Fitzgerald, 45 years

*Marshall Eddie Conway, 42 years

Mondo We Langa, 42 years

Ed Poindexter, 42 years

+Herman Wallace, 42 years, 41solitary confinement

Albert Woodfox, 42 years, 41solitary confinement

Jalil Muntquin, 41 years

Russell Maroon Shoats, 40 years, 30solitary confinement

Sundiata Acoli, 40 years

Herman Bell, 39 years

Veronza Bowers, 39 years

Try swindlers and banksters like Wells-Fargo

Keep pushin’ for ending the embargo

Exonerate Assata, shut Guantanamo

Withdraw slave-patrols, AKA po-po

Convene Peoples’ Tribunals under Jericho

Host numero uno at Harlem’s Apollo—

Shout something that we all now know

It’s way past time to let ‘em ALL go:

Robert ‘Seth’ Hayes, 39 years

Leonard Peltier, 37 years

Chuck Africa, 34 years

Debbie Africa, 34 years

Delbert Africa, 34 years

Eddie Africa, 34 years

Janet Africa, 34 years

Janine Africa, 34 years

Michael Africa, 34 years

Phil Africa, 34 years

Mohamman Kati, 34 years, 86 years old

David Gilbert, 31years

*Sekou Odinga, 31years

Try swindlers and banksters like Wells-Fargo

Keep pushin’ for ending the embargo

Exonerate Assata, shut Guantanamo

Withdraw slave-patrols, AKA po-po

Convene Peoples’ Tribunals under Jericho

Host numero uno at Harlem’s Apollo—

Shout something that we all now know

It’s way past time to let ‘em ALL go:

Oscar Lopez Rivera, 31 years

Zolo Azania, 31 years

Mumia Abu Jamal, 31 years, 30 on Death Row

Abdulla Majid, 30 years

Joan Laaneim, 28 years

Mutulu Shakur, 26 years

Jamil Al-Amin AKA H. Rap Brown 12 years,

2solitary confinement

Kamau Sadiki, 10 years

*Lynne Stewart, 4 years

Try swindlers and banksters like Wells-Fargo

Keep pushin’ for ending the embargo

Exonerate Assata, shut Guantanamo

Withdraw slave-patrols, AKA po-po

Convene Peoples’ Tribunals under Jericho

Host numero uno at Harlem’s Apollo—

Shout something that we all now know

It’s way past time to let ‘em ALL go:

It’s way past time to let ‘em ALL go…

* Released; + Deceased… Note of Poetic License:

Events and individuals alluded to in this poem are

Fictional. The U.S doesn’t torture. The U.S. doesn’t

Have Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War or Ancestors.

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com

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