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


  • Debate Lesson: 2020 Election is a Great Corporate Thug-a-thon
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Debate Lesson: 2020 Election is a Great Corporate Thug-a-thon
    07 Oct 2020
    Trump and Biden avoided policy because neither had anything to offer the masses of people.
  • Fight the Power: Resistance Radio at the Virtual GRC Summit
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Fight the Power: Resistance Radio at the Virtual GRC Summit
    07 Oct 2020
    The Grassroots Radio Virtual Summit is for anyone looking for ways to resist heightening repression and anyone who feels that grassroots radio is vital to their community, writes Ann Garrison.
  • October Surprise? (or President Pence pardon?)
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    October Surprise? (or President Pence pardon?)
    07 Oct 2020
    They say he could use your thoughts  and prayers; like he used your taxes  Praying to big white Buddha bottles of bleach…They say he never, ever,
  • AFRICOM: Deadly Deception
    Friends of Congo
    AFRICOM: Deadly Deception
    07 Oct 2020
    AFRICOM's real aim was never peace nor stability but rather, strategic US interests.
  • Blacks in LA Nearly Four Times as Likely to be Cited by Police
    Sam Levin
    Blacks in LA Nearly Four Times as Likely to be Cited by Police
    07 Oct 2020
    Activists say these ordinances for minor violations are rooted in racist laws and anti-homeless policies. “it’s illegal to be Black in public.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us