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


  • The Alliance for Global Justice Delegation to Nicaragua
    International Delegation to Nicaragua, July 19, 2021
    Statement of the International Delegation to Nicaragua
    01 Sep 2021
    An international delegation released this statement supporting the rights of the Nicaraguan people to live free of U.S. interference.
  • Ol’ Red Jack Hirschman: He Weaponized Words
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Ol’ Red Jack Hirschman: He Weaponized Words
    01 Sep 2021
    Ol’ Red Jack Hirschman: He Weaponized Words “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” —Percy Bysshe Shelly I. Death comes in 3s they say. So maybe 6
  • AFRICOM in the Congo
    Kambale Musavuli
    AFRICOM in the Congo
    01 Sep 2021
    Its immeasurable mineral resources has made the Congo the victim of a long history of Western greed, plunder, and genocidal violence.
  • Afghan Crisis Must End America’s Empire of War, Corruption and Poverty
    Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies  
    Afghan Crisis Must End America’s Empire of War, Corruption and Poverty
    01 Sep 2021
    The U.S. departure from Afghanistan is an opportunity to end the corruption which made a 20-year long war a cash cow for the military industrial complex.
  • Out of Afghanistan Today, Out of Africa Tomorrow!
    All-African People's Revolutionary Party
    Out of Afghanistan Today, Out of Africa Tomorrow!
    01 Sep 2021
    The U.S. departure from Afghanistan is a victory against imperialism.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us