December Surprise (Class struggle trumps Trail of Tricks)
by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner
I. Historically High on the Hog
An occasional ALEC bill—
Cashin’ in on Capitalist Hill
Comfortable with wild charades
Playin’ 3 monkeys, 4 decades
Seein’ evil, zero jobs, AIDS…
Big galas, par-tays and parades
Keepin’ their eyes on the prize—
Board seat, sub-contract, franchise!
Coming off the plantation porch
Gud lawd movin’ ‘em to march?
II. Prelude to failed Trail of Tricks
K: “People didn’t see what they saw…”
S: “Don’t understand complex law?”
K: “So, ‘Sharlatanize’ their demands!”
S: “Keepin’ things in the state’s hands?”
K: “Like more funding of D-O-J…”
S: “Drivin’ young activists away?”
K: “More laws, special prosecutors…”
S: “Cameras, trainin’ for shooters?”
S: “Boss, I’m barely part of it…”
K: “Front it, cut the heart of it!”
S: “Tellin’ ‘em what time to hit town?”
K: “Yes, and which streets to march down”
S: “What gestures and speeches to make?”
K: “Videos and ‘selfys’ to take…”
S: “What hoodies and T-shirts to wear?”
K: “Who to put on and keep off air…”
S: “Signs to carry, slogans to shout?”
K: “Then to get their black asses out!”
III. Change Gonna Come…
At last, Reckoning Day arrived
For those who’ve shucked and jived—
Erupting below, wildcat strike
Seizing the time, their place and mic
With young, Black America’s sound
New meaning to ‘boots on the ground!’
Like a ‘surge,’ chum-rushing the stage
Declaring: The Ferguson Age!
In resistance, the new arose
Firing ‘niggas’, ‘bitches’, ‘hoes!’
Beautiful, young, gifted and Black
Boldly unafraid to attack
Media-police state violence…
Breaking old, sinister silence—
Motion, growth, protracted ferment
Our young people growing insurgent—
Struggles rise, fall, shift, come and go
Motions lift, stirrings ebb and flow
Revolutionary trend latent
Seeds of socialism…nascent…
Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com
Raymond Nat Turner © 2014 All Rights Reserved
While ICE and law enforcement unleash raids across LA, protesters stand firm, exposing the brutal machinery of deportation and the state’s violent response to dissent and resistance.
Gaza’s hospitals have become killing fields, and medical workers witness Israeli forces executing unarmed civilians, including children.
Nowhere is safe in Gaza. US-backed Israeli forces are turning aid centers into slaughter zones, targeting starving civilians as they desperately search for food and medicine.
Roger D. Harris analyzes Western media's biased and dishonest coverage of Venezuela's May 25 election and the sweeping Chavismo victory.
In this week’s segment, we hear about the repatriation of skulls taken from the bodies of Black New Orleanians 150 years ago which were then sent to Germany for study in the practice of racist…
