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

Cleveland Championship?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Jun 2015
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner

BAR's poet in residence reminds us that Cleveland has been taking shots as well as making shots for a long time now...

Cleveland Championship?

by BAR poet-in-residence   Raymond Nat Turner

“The power to kill compounds the need to kill”

-Judith Wright

LeBron shot 38 times,
Scored 44, needing 11
More shots to out shoot
One Cleveland pig; 107
More to out shoot the
Pig’s shoot-around, firing
Squad, fearing-for-their-
Lives, ‘Flash Brothers—’
Red-hot muzzles blazing,
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-
Pop-pop popcorn cordite,
Awful thud-thud-thud-thud-
Thud of their bullets burrowing,
Pock marking thin night skin of
The old baby blue Malibu Malissa
Williams’ and Timothy Russell’s
Disfigured faces and heads lay,
Blooming crimson on the Chevy’s
Steering wheel and dashboard

Cleveland’s ‘Flash Brothers,’
Cavalier killers of Black folk,
Out shot Sean Bell’s, Amadou
Diallo’s Big Apple shooters,
Out shot Mike Brown’s murderer
Walter Scott’s South Carolina
Killer, out shot ol’ Thronberry,
‘Riders’ from ‘Tha Town,’ out
Shot Oaktown shooters of Gary
King, Melvin Black, Charles
Briscoe, Casper Banjo, but no
Championship for Cleveland

Two seconds on the clock
Cleveland’s ‘Flash Brothers,’
Cavalier killers of Black folk,
Shoot a 12-year-old boy, tackle
His 14-year-old sister, threaten
His mom with arrest; flagrantly
Fouling out of the human race—
Like Philly pigs bombing, barbequing
11 MOVE children and adults,
Razing 60 homes, no championship
For Cleveland

So, why am I so slow to share bliss
Blanketing ‘Tha Town’ like morning
Fog? Oaktown earned it ol’ fashioned
Ways: Oscar Grant, Occupy Oakland,
‘General Strike’ street heat, port shut-
Downs ‘gainst apartheid states near/far!

So, why am I so conflicted, digging
Young cats, Ali-less, Russell-less,
Kareem-less, Brown-less, Coltrane-
Like, working craft, remaining humble?

Is it because of the ‘bigs,’
Backing us down, running set plays,
Serial wars, making us settle— low
Percentage shots every two/four years?

Is it because of the ‘bigs,’
Swatting Black lives away through thin blue
Lines, high fructose corn syrup food deserts,
Chicken colonies of poverty and obesity?

Is it because of the ‘bigs—’
Grubb, Coldwell, Wells Fargo banksters,
Remax Red Oak, and their sneering FOR
SALE/SOLD signs, dominating down low?

Is it because of the ‘bigs—’
Boarding up houses, shuttering schools,
Libraries, parks, rec centers and erecting
Ever grander play palaces to themselves?

Is it because of the ‘bigs’
Off-shoring jobs and subbing
Arrogant settlers, upturned noses, barking
Dogs, for Caterpillar, Peterbilt, Postal, GM,
Highland Hospital, Naval Shipyard, starters?

Is it because of the ‘bigs’
Bounce passes to haters of Blacks,
FOX-box trolls, disguised as fans
Standing ‘their’ ground, 2nd place
‘Winners’ with the1%!
Overseer tones to 55-inch screens,
Commanding Black bodies: “cut,”
“Stop dribbling,” “drive,” “shoot,”
“Come out aggressive,” “go strong
To the hole,” “play hurt,” don’t holler
“I can’t breathe,” “Hands up, don’t
Shoot,” don’t “bulk up like Hulk
Hogan,” “run through shots,” don’t
Take off running, make “eye contact,”
Or resist ‘arrest’ from fetal positions—
500lbs of knees in your back…

Is it because of the ‘bigs’
Finding ways to win, sweeping stats mattering
Most—triple-doubles, Dr. King drew up ‘67—
No matter who hoists trophies, lines parades as
Kings, for a day?

Raymond Nat Turner Š 2015 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


  • Pivot to Mass Struggle: A Lesson from Ferguson
    Ashton Rome
    Pivot to Mass Struggle: A Lesson from Ferguson
    20 May 2020
    We are entering a terrifying and daunting time that requires a change in approach and tactics.
  • Cancel the Rent 
    Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
    Cancel the Rent 
    20 May 2020
    We have to reverse the strange alchemy where markets turn land, concrete, steel, and glass into money, while turning people out into the streets.
  • A Universal Appeal for Humanity to End Militarism and Stop War
    Abdallah El Harif and Vijay Prashad
    A Universal Appeal for Humanity to End Militarism and Stop War
    20 May 2020
    A bloc of countries, led by the United States of America, is stubbornly persisting in using force to maintain and extend their global dominance.
  • Prisons Are Using the Pandemic to Impose Lockdowns
    Michelle Chen
    Prisons Are Using the Pandemic to Impose Lockdowns
    20 May 2020
    More than 300,000 people in prisons or jails are under “full or partial lockdown” in response to the pandemic.
  • Why is Sam Husseini Channeling Neocon Conspiracy Theories on Covid-19? . Photo of lab in Wuhan, China
    K.J. Noh and Claudia Chaufan
    Why is Sam Husseini Channeling Neocon Conspiracy Theories on Covid-19?
    20 May 2020
    The authors charge a progressive journalist with acting as a “shill” for neocon propaganda and disinformation on China. (Husseini’s article is also published, below.)
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us