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

If I had a hammer…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Oct 2017
🖨️ Print Article
If I had a hammer....
If I had a hammer…

My Dad drew blueprints,
Built cabinets, designed
ultra-modern kitchens, offices:
Master of tile, electrical, plumbing,
painting—imagining, mixing
Colors he dreamed up

Finish carpenter, cabinetmaker, contractor
Hanging doors, ripping two by fours—
Bad Hombre never showed
up in Beverly Hills,
With one hammer or saw.

He traveled with trim hammers,
framing hammers, ball peens,
22oz hammers, 32oz hammers, mallets—
Even sledge hammers for persuading
framed walls and beams

Similarly with several saws:
Table saw, circular saws, coping saw,
bandsaw, miter saw, jigsaw, rip saw—
17 saws for different jobs…

Movement building’s no different…
One tool—method of struggle—
Won’t work on every job. And,
Violence versus nonviolence is
an old splitting tool in 1% toolboxes

Prayer, comradely criticism
and self-criticism with
klansmen and nazis,
Pummeling one with pipes,
Earn return trips to the toolbox

Freedom songs, solidarity statements,
Polemics, picket lines, boycotts, mass meetings,
Mass marches, mass rallies, teach-ins,
Sit-ins, die-ins, sabotage, negotiations…
Must all be in our toolboxes

When SWAT invaded Central Avenue
before the sun rose—
to kill my Cousin and 16 Panther comrades—
Remington, Thompson,
Smith & Wesson spoke
Eloquently for five hours—
gathering, Awakening, witnesses
Saving 17 lives where
Gandhi and King were muted…

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved

Our own Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

poetry

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
17 December 2025
Harmony of a hug,Rhythm of a rose,Melody in the mirror
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Reese Piece…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Reese Piece…
15 April 2021
Salute to City of Angels’ son! He wrote, he wrote, he wrote And he wrote… Ramparts, The Progressive, The
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
27 January 2021
Everybody’s wild ‘bout this ‘new’ dance craze— this lewd, crude dance called “The 1st 100 Daze…”
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
20 January 2021
Kristallnacht came casting lead ballots, overthrowing Black elected officials and Massacring those that VOTED for them— 
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
13 January 2021
“It's like writing history with lightning.“ — Woodrow Wilson on Birth of A Nation
Think…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Think…
06 January 2021
Think of peoples having the most tanks, the most drones, the most missiles, bombs, aircraft carriers, 

More Stories


  • Black Is Back Coalition to March on White House
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Is Back Coalition to March on White House
    06 Oct 2020
    For the 12th consecutive year, the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations will march on the White House, November 7, this time under the themes “Black Power Matters,
  • The Politics That Led to the “Worst Debate”
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    The Politics That Led to the “Worst Debate”
    01 Oct 2020
    The incoherence of the Biden-Trump debate will be repeated every election cycle until Blacks and progressives break with the corporate duopoly.
  • The Blue Wall Of Silence
    Aurin Squire
    The Blue Wall Of Silence
    30 Sep 2020
    A majority of New York City cops are non-white, but their union endorsed the re-election of Donald Trump, with no loud protest from the darker ranks. 
  • Freedom Rider: Breonna Taylor and Black Life
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Breonna Taylor and Black Life
    30 Sep 2020
    Reactions to the Breonna Taylor murder, settlement and verdict all have one thing in common: Black people’s inability to protect our lives.
  • The China and Africa Connection U.S. Imperialism Does Not Want You to Know About
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The China and Africa Connection U.S. Imperialism Does Not Want You to Know About
    30 Sep 2020
    The US sows hysteria about China because Washington can no longer dictate global affairs without any significant challenge.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us