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

My Wise Country Cousin on The State Machine’s Machinegun-Totin’ Cops… 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
20 Aug 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner

Dey got Glocks, pumps, tasirs, peppurspray, vess—
White magik fo’ conjurin’ cases ob “resisin’ aress!”

My Wise Country Cousin on The State Machine’s Machinegun-Totin’ Cops… 

by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner

Look lak de Daltuns, Youngas an ol’ James gangs
Is resirrecit, an’ up ridin’ again, doin’ dey thangs—
Bowdin’ de D train wit machinegun-totin’ police
Dey needin’ dat firepower fo’ “keepin’ de peace?”
‘Less Al Kater on de A, Boocoo Harome on de B
Dem damn machineguns make no sense, to me…
‘Less Eyesool on de C, an’ Eyesis down on de D
Dem damn machineguns make no sense, to me…
Dey got Glocks, pumps, tasirs, peppurspray, vess—
White magik fo’ conjurin’ cases ob “resisin’ aress!”

Dey shoutin’ night an’ day‘bout Eyesool and Eyesis
Coverin’ up de fac dey sistum’s tremblin’ wit crisis:
Workin’ folk tired ob takeaways an’ myzerly charity
Caint take much mo’ ob dese heists called awesterity—
Son, I tolt you once, tolt you twice, dis makes thrice
Dis a police state Negroz an’ liberuls call ‘paradice!’

Dey got C-Is, Demografick Units an Mosk Crawlers,
Ebben mens among trash hallers, an’ cable installers…
Now, it lookin’ lak to me dat Bloody Billy Bratton
Is bringin’ dat ol’ SS mess up here in Manhattun…
Sho lookin’ lak what de youngtaz be callin’ po-po
Is jes de Furor’s ol’ gang ob thugs de Gustop-po—
Well, so much fo’ hare-splittin,’ ackademik debate,
It pas’ time fo’ callin’ dis muthafucka a police state!

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com
Raymond Nat Turner © 2105 All Rights Reserved

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


More Stories


  • The NYPD Is Withholding Evidence From Investigations Into Police Abuse
    Eric Umansky and Mollie Simon
    The NYPD Is Withholding Evidence From Investigations Into Police Abuse
    19 Aug 2020
    The NYPD has regularly failed to turn over key records and videos to police abuse investigators at New York’s Civilian Complaint Review Board. “
  • Kamala Harris: Class Struggle and the Illusion of Identity in Capitalism / Photo: Kamala Harris with her Jamaican father, Prof. Donald Harris 
    Ahjamu Umi
    Kamala Harris: Class Struggle and the Illusion of Identity in Capitalism
    19 Aug 2020
    Some Africans in America identify with people like Harris because THEY see their class interests, as she does, as being intertwined with the interests of the American capitalist system.
  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of August 17, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of August 17, 2020
    18 Aug 2020
    You Can’t Understand Capitalism Without Race
  • Mumia: The Ravages of Capitalism-Fueled Contagion
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Mumia: The Ravages of Capitalism-Fueled Contagion
    18 Aug 2020
    Social discontent rises with the level of fatalities and government incompetence during the current epidemic, said the nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal.
  • US Lies About Political Prisoners – and Almost Everything Else
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    US Lies About Political Prisoners – and Almost Everything Else
    18 Aug 2020
    The official US position, that this country holds no political prisoners, is part of “the lie and the founding mythology of US ‘democracy,’” said Nyle Fort, a Princeton Univer
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us