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

I Celebrate Red Roses of Resistance
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
30 Oct 2019
🖨️ Print Article
I Celebrate Red Roses of Resistance
I Celebrate Red Roses of Resistance

San Francisco singer sitting in a Manhattan
restaurant, ringlets trickling down ‘round
Angelic paper bag brown face, like sweat
gathering on her glass of white wine.
Her fries stand at attention, saluting
from stainless steel cylinder. Bold white 
letters emblazon her tight-fitting black tee-shirt:

             “IMPEACH
THE MOTHERFUCKER!”

I celebrate red roses of resistance—
tiniest spark in the dark…
bumper sticker, slogan, soundbite;
tiny tussle, or Good Fight. I rejoice at
friction—contradiction—more beautiful 
than perfect…Embryonic class struggle…
Obeying revolution’s laws written in Russian,
Arabic, Creole, Chinese, Spanish, Farsi, French,
English and oceans of blood over Africa, Asia and 
the Americas.
I celebrate them like
I celebrate red roses of resistance—
that pierced cracker Cotton Curtain
claims, “Our nigras were fine until
the Jews started coming down from
New York and stirring them up…”

I celebrate red roses of resistance—
Marching through melting ice, burning forests,
into teargas storms, truncheons, torture and its
elastic time…

I celebrate red roses of resistance—
Revolting warehouse workers, janitors,
truck drivers, bus drivers, carpenters.
Rebelling rubber, steel, auto, longshore,
fast food workers! Resisting teachers, 
nurses, train operators, youth and students!

I celebrate red roses of resistance—
blooming behind bars, springing up from
solitary, baring concertina wire thorns!
Resistance rallying ‘round time clocks, water
coolers, rising from rivers, bursting forth from 
fertile football fields!
Resistance rearing its beautiful head 
in classrooms, concert halls, halls of 
congress, pews, pulpits, side streets, 
back alleys—the planet’s unlikeliest 
nooks and crannies!

I celebrate red roses of resistance—
sprinkling spring water and compost,
grown folks’ faith in the masses; love 
of the people—the 99%—making messy

History…

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished poet and performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

Impeachment

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


Related Stories

Ukrainian Roulette: The “Ukrainegate” Gamble
Enzo Calandra
Ukrainian Roulette: The “Ukrainegate” Gamble
04 December 2019
Liberals have enlisted the CIA to repudiate a clearly obscene and grotesque president because they themselves are obscene and grotesque in many of
Freedom Rider: The Ukrainegate Farce
Margaret Kimberley , BAR editor and senior columnist
Freedom Rider: The Ukrainegate Farce
20 November 2019
The Democrats are hoping that Ukrainegate will succeed where Russiagate failed and they can win the presidency without helping their voters.
Impeachment and the Long Road to a Democratic Party Defeat in 2020
Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
Impeachment and the Long Road to a Democratic Party Defeat in 2020
09 October 2019
Impeachment helps the Democratic Party catch a breath of temporary relief from subjects such as Medicare for All or climate catastrophe.
Impeachment Watch
Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
Impeachment Watch
09 October 2019
In their crusade to get Trump and distract from their own corruption, the Democrats have moved on from Russiagate to an impeachment inquiry over “U
Impeachable Boss Tweet
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
Impeachable Boss Tweet
09 October 2019
in the swamp, downstream  not far from the White Supreme Court and Capitalist Hill,

More Stories


  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright , ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    COPing Out In Brazil: How The United Nations Reduces its Legitimacy More Than Global Emissions
    19 Nov 2025
    Despite being held in Brazil, a nation with the largest Black population outside of the African continent, COP30 has continued a thirty-year pattern of sidelining the specific climate threats to Afro…
  • Jon Jeter
    In South Africa, White is the New Black: The ANC’s Failures Opens the Door for the Return of a Government Led by Settlers
    19 Nov 2025
    Decades of unmet promises and endemic corruption have eroded the ANC's legitimacy, creating a surge of support for a party led by South Africa's white minority.
  • Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    “Only unity will make us free:” The Masses Build and Sustain a Zone of Peace through the Unity of Struggles
    19 Nov 2025
    As U.S. militarism intensifies across Latin America and the Caribbean, regional social movements are making the firm declaration that only a unified, mass-driven front can build a true "Zone of Peace…
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    A Call for Mass Struggle Against U.S.-Led War on Venezuela and the Caribbean
    19 Nov 2025
    The assault on Venezuela's sovereignty represents a broader imperial strategy to discipline any nation that defies U.S. hegemony.
  • Jessica Washington
    SNAP Recipients Crushed by Democrats Caving on Shutdown: “They Just Wasted It All”
    19 Nov 2025
    SNAP recipients were willing to sacrifice to protect health care benefits for themselves and others and they are furious that the Democrats' chose collusion with the Trump administration rather than…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us