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 Profiteersā¦
by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
āI 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.ā
āMarine 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, Yemenā¦and
Others, soon to be announcedā¦
II.
The bleeding baby with blown off arms and stumps for legs
Dies in a āsurgically struckā hospital while you drain kegs?
Commanderās quarterback, bloody band wrapping his wrist,
Running old red zone, war-profiteer plays from his kill list?
Are other peoplesā children ācollateral damage expendableā
Like leftovers lost when your fridge became undependable?
Whyās the fight for āour freedomā usually where thereās oil?
Whyās it where mineral wealthās buried beneath foreign soil?
How about freedom fighting without tanks, planes and boatsā
Freeing: Fitzgerald, Peltier, Gilbert, Bell, Jamal, Shoatzā¦?
Aināt āIncarceration Nationā Slave State, by its other nameā
Aināt 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 herdā
Of Hitler-loving, hair-trigger thugs, masquerading as fansā¦
Always seconds away from true team colors of their klanās!
Raymond Nat Turner Ā© 2016 All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. Find more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.
Son, it look lak Unca Jim say, āLasā time I chek Iāse de whipā anā got no time foā young Negroz wit all dey Blak Life lipā¦ā
The idea that we can resolve racism by integrating a fundamentally anti-Black institution is the most absurd notion of all.
The Bureauās COINTELPRO deployed every trick and crime in the book to crush left dissidents, from disruption to assassination.
This week the presidential election and the legacy of Paul Robeson were on your minds.
Politicians ignore at their peril the power of popular culture and its people-moving practitioners.
