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

They came 4 Moms 4 Housing
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
29 Jan 2020
🖨️ Print Article
They came 4 Moms 4 Housing
They came 4 Moms 4 Housing

Storming “ThTown’s” morning dew like badged vermin
Creeping from bent mist morning light, just before five
Barking cold commands in Pig Latin—or German?
Capitalist property law’s such barbaric jive!
Armed with aerosol bigotry, right from the can
Battering doors as the banksters' blu klux klan

Platoon, battalion, brigade—or whole damn division?
Invading with battering rams, A-Rs, robots and tanks
Raiding the unsheltered with Gestapo precision
For speculating realtors and parasitic banks…
Revealing jungle law of the rich to a woke mass—
Unhoused women and children of the working-class…

Flaunting naked violence of the plutocratic state
Guarding four vacant houses for each person unhoused
Proving—once again—what makes Amerikkka “great—“
Heavy-handed hoods—meeting a movement aroused!!

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

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished 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

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

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Poem for Walter Rodney, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, 1981  
11 June 2025
“any where or world where there is love there is the sky and its blue free
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise In Poetics to Ra
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Reflections after the June 12th March of Disarmament, Sonia Sanchez, 1982
18 December 2024
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Love My Black Job
11 September 2024
Love my Black Job— Black Student Union Job! Hired at L.A. City College As “The Peoples Poet!”
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Enemy of the Sun, Samih al-Qasim, 1970
29 May 2024
Read against the terrible incineration of Rafah today, this poem of resistance and refusal, by Pa
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.
Protest for Palestine at the White House
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Trigger Warning
22 November 2023
Trigger Warning Palestine’s the Answer— What was the Question?
Another June 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Another June 1
07 June 2023
                                       
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
16 February 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Our ‘democracy’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Our ‘democracy’
23 July 2021
Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne- caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who

More Stories


  • Dr. Gerald Horne
    Juneteenth Book Signing & Lecture with Prof. Gerald Horne
    17 Jun 2026
    Prof. Gerald Horne’s book signing and lecture in Brooklyn, New York on June 19.
  • Gregory P. Downs
    The Hidden History of Juneteenth
    17 Jun 2026
    Most people think Juneteenth was simply when enslaved Texans learned they were free, but that is a myth. They knew the war ended but the fight for freedom did not end with one proclamation; it took…
  • Jessica Washington
    D.C. Mayor Candidates Are Fixating on Teen Hangouts — and Turning the Cops on Them
    17 Jun 2026
    D.C. mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie supports curfews targeting youth. His opponent Janeese Lewis George disagrees but Washington's colonial status and its lack of home rule make any debate…
  • Centre for Counter Hegemonic Studies
    Luis Britto García: I resist, therefore I am
    17 Jun 2026
    A Venezuelan writer asks hard questions about the state of the Venezuelan state.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio June 12, 2026
    12 Jun 2026
    In this week’s segment, we discuss the Delaney Hall immigration jail in New Jersey. Detainees have been on hunger strike in protest of inhumane conditions, and protests and arrests have taken place…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us