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 Š 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


  • Open Letter to Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), on the need to Support Haitian Sovereignty
    Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
    Open Letter to Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), on the need to Support Haitian Sovereignty
    12 Oct 2022
    An Open Letter to Her Excellency, Dr. Carla Natalie Barnett Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), on the need to Support Haitian Sovereignty
  • Chocolate City: Ground Zero for the White Settler's Reclamation Project
    Jon Jeter
    Chocolate City: Ground Zero for the White Settler's Reclamation Project
    12 Oct 2022
    Washington DC was once known as Chocolate City. After years of gentrification Black residents are now a minority of the population.
  • "Society Has Shut Down On Us:" Prison Strikers Across Alabama Demand Change Despite Severe Retaliation
    Haley Czarnek
    "Society Has Shut Down On Us:" Prison Strikers Across Alabama Demand Change Despite Severe Retaliation
    12 Oct 2022
    The 13th amendment allows slavery for incarcerated people. The state of Alabama pays nothing for prison labor, rarely grants parole, and retaliates against those who protest unsanitary and unsafe…
  • EXPOSED: Before Ukraine Blew Up Kerch Bridge, British Spies Plotted It
    Kit Klarenberg
    EXPOSED: Before Ukraine Blew Up Kerch Bridge, British Spies Plotted It
    12 Oct 2022
    The secret British intelligence plot to blow up Crimea’s Kerch Bridge is revealed in internal documents and correspondence obtained exclusively by The Grayzone.
  • Pentagon Doesn’t Know If It Trained Burkina Faso Coup Leader
    Nick Turse
    Pentagon Doesn’t Know If It Trained Burkina Faso Coup Leader
    12 Oct 2022
    Captain Ibrahim Traore deposed the last man who overthrew the previous government — Lt. Col. Sandaogo Damiba — who did extensive training with the U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us