by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
Unlike the president, our poet is firmly grounded in the history as well as the here and now of America.
Here is his prescription for what it will take to really make America great again.
Make America Great Again
by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
.44
.45
Sonny
Succeeding
Michael?
Gangsters still in power
State muscle for
Fossil Fuel Families; War-Profiteer Families;
Big Pharma, Protection, Bankster Families...
Iron fist beneath velvet glove, carrot and stickâ
Mike and Ike: Good cop, Bad copâ
Force and deception:
Sweet nothing promises wafting with
Water hose, pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullet
Bill of Rights
With snarling dog investigations-hearingsâ
Hearing whatâs been heard ten-thousand times...
Two years of absurdist theater
spasming to its temporary haltâ
Curtain callâThe Drone Ranger (bowing; solemn)
âWeâre all on one team.â
Golda-plated Iron Lady (resigned)
âHave an open mind; give him a chance to lead.â
Sheep Doggy Dogg (eager; co-signing)
âHeâs a man who can be worked with.â
A smoking gun, mushroom cloud, puffed up
Pillsbury DoughboyâCheato Banditoârises
on hot air, unstable, unpredictable,destructive
like capitalism: âTo Make America Great Again!â
I say, âGo ahead, make my dayâ
Make Amerikkka, great againââ
When Underground Railroad tracks
criss-crossed the countryside for splintered
Familiesâ auction blocked aspirations
When rebellions and war
Overthrew torture, murder, rape,
Liberating labor in all hues...
When at the Battle of the Greasy Grass,
Indian-killer, Custer, met tough-love Lakota,
Northern Cheyenne, Arapaho-style...
I say, âGo ahead, make my dayâ
Make Amerikkka, great againââ
When streets were class struggle universities:
Communists, socialists, anarchists, labor leaders,
Professors;
When Flint struck a thousand points of lightâ
40 day, 40 night sit-down strike;
When self-help movements: Sharecropper Unions,
Worker Alliance Groups, Unemployed Councils
Metastasized through â30s veins:
Organizing unemployed, tenants, farmers
Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked,
putting those evicted Back in their homes;
When Longshore Workers tied up two
Thousand miles of Pacific Coast; and
San Francisco, Minnesota General Strike
Concessions trickled down like magic bullets
I say, âGo ahead, make my dayâ
Make Amerikkka, great againââ
When African-Americans boycotting
Montgomeryâs apartheid busses 381days
walked and car-pooled;
When students rode busses up south, down south
through savage southern gauntlets;
Sat-in at lynch mob lunch counters; and braved
Murderous heathens registering elders to vote;
When students shut San Francisco State down
four months, birthing Black Student Unionsâ
Black Studies programs;
When Chinese and Vietnamese sent statements
supporting struggles of African-American fighters;
When Brown Berets, Young Lords, AIM, SDS, Anti-War
Activists were born...
I say, âGo ahead, make my dayâ
Make Amerikkka, great again!â
As an embryonic world reveals
Itself, its power
Protecting Water,
Fighting For Fifteen,
Occupying Wall Street,
Making Black Lives Matterâ
With it we liveâwith you we cannot...
Raymond Nat Turner Š 2017 All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist.
Find much more of his work at Http://upsurgejazz.com
Black class relations explicated, Moynihan debunked, slave life explored, prison abolition made conceivable â all this is teachable.
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Odellâs effectiveness and fidelity to principle is affirmed by the ferocity of Hooverâs redbaiting smears.
In celebration of Black Studyâs 50th year in existence at Portland State, we also get to watch its death.
The National Lawyers Guild, born in resistance to political witch-hunts, seems to have neutered itself in the face of the new wave of manufactured hysteria.
