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

Anthem of Banksters & War Profiteers
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
07 Sep 2016
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Why does San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick choose to sit when the Star Spangled Banner is played before football games? Evidently he is one of many who know the real intention and import behind those bombs bursting in air...

Anthem of Banksters & War Profiteers…

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

“I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”
—Marine General Smedley Butler at his retirement, 1933

I.

No Iroquois or Seminole National Anthem,

No Hawaiian or Mexican National Anthem,

Before bombers fly over stadiums schools and

social services were sacrificed for on altars of austerity;

No Ohlone or Navajo National Anthem,

No Iroquois or Seminole National Anthem,

No Hawaiian or Mexican National Anthem,

Before rockets red glare/bombs bursting in air

Over Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Bosnia, Libya,

Panama, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen…and

Others, soon to be announced…

II.

The bleeding baby with blown off arms and stumps for legs

Dies in a ‘surgically struck’ hospital while you drain kegs?

Commander’s quarterback, bloody band wrapping his wrist,

Running old red zone, war-profiteer plays from his kill list?

Are other peoples’ children ‘collateral damage expendable—

Like leftovers lost when your fridge became undependable?

Why’s the fight for ‘our freedom’ usually where there’s oil?

Why’s it where mineral wealth’s buried beneath foreign soil?

How about freedom fighting without tanks, planes and boats—

Freeing: Fitzgerald, Peltier, Gilbert, Bell, Jamal, Shoatz…?

Ain’t ‘Incarceration Nation’ Slave State, by its other name—

Ain’t it the darker side of a barbaric, brain-damaging game?

Black players: interception, sack, fumble, loss from N-word

Inches from lynching by the intoxicated mob, the racist herd—

Of Hitler-loving, hair-trigger thugs, masquerading as fans…

Always seconds away from true team colors of their klan’s!

Raymond Nat Turner © 2016 All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. Find more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

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


More Stories


  • Freedom Rider: Hybrid Warfare in Bolivia and Beyond
    Margaret Kimberley , BAR editor and senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Hybrid Warfare in Bolivia and Beyond
    13 Nov 2019
    The violent coup in Bolivia, like all of Washington’s regime-change and dirty tricks operations, has been aided and abetted by corporate media’s masters of euphemism.
  • Rwanda Exports 2,163 kg of Gold, UAE Imports 12,539 kg of It
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    Rwanda Exports 2,163 kg of Gold, UAE Imports 12,539 kg of It
    13 Nov 2019
    The final 2019 UN Group of Experts Report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo confirms that Congo’s eastern neighbor Rwanda remains a haven for smuggling Congolese minerals.
  • Obama Condemns “Call Out Culture” Despite Being Its Biggest Beneficiary
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    Obama Condemns “Call Out Culture” Despite Being Its Biggest Beneficiary
    13 Nov 2019
    Obama’s cynical analysis of youth activism was yet another dog whistle to the wealthiest and most conservative sections of white America.
  • My Mentors and me
    BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
    My Mentors and me
    13 Nov 2019
    Standing out in the cold shivering, shoveling white bean soup in my mouth, A mentor appears, two assistants in tow.  Mind butcher shop sharp with a
  • What the Chilean People’s Enemies in the US are Planning
    G1 of Rebel Diaz 
    What the Chilean People’s Enemies in the US are Planning
    13 Nov 2019
    Elites in Chile take their cues from places like the University of Chicago, where the author witnessed technocrats plotting to save the ruling order from popular uprising.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us