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

My Wise Country Cousin and Ol’ blak Schmo
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Aug 2020
🖨️ Print Article
My Wise Country Cousin and Ol’ blak Schmo
My Wise Country Cousin and Ol’ blak Schmo

I came in de room wit
mah head bent low
pretendin’ defrenz to Ol’ blak Schmo.
Sekrit Servuz say, “Boy, if’n you ain’t
in no emediyit dangur
Here’s Vinyurd Travelin’ Papurs— 
see de Drone Rangur…”

I jes’ stan dere red hot, an’ Blak
as a Crow—
I say, “ No, suh, I ‘se here to see
Ol’ blak Schmo…”

Den, I talks to Ol’ blak Schmo—
he a white man but he know
Bes’ what it is to be Blak—
an’ he tolt me, “Git on bak!”

Finully I axe Ol’ blak Schmo
Jus’ what it is to be Blak— 
Ha-ha, he laff, an’ den say,
“Difrunz ‘tween powdur an’ crak!”

An’ den he say, “Fus you gotta Vote
fo’ me—Den go on bak ta sleep…
Keep yo’ moufs shut an ern yo’ keep!”

Secun, “Y’all git on back in ya seats! 
Ya gotta stay outta Dem damn streets—
keep y’all’s blak asses out ob Dem streets;
Quit all ob dat ol’ votin’ wit yo’ feets!”

Thurd, wen de poleez kill anotha
nigga, lemme bring ‘em to de 
Rows Gardun fo’ beer an’ a gud talkin’ to
dat otha lives might maddur besize Blu?
Wen de poleez rape a gal in de bak seet ob dey car
lemme bring ‘em here fo’ beer—an’ maybe we spar?
Wen de poleez frame a man an’ sen’ him off to jail
lemme bring ‘em here fo’ beer—dey's too big to fail…

© 2020. 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


  • Black Scholar Praises Heroes and Indicts “Scoundrels” of McCarthy Era
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Black Scholar Praises Heroes and Indicts “Scoundrels” of McCarthy Era
    02 Mar 2020
    The peace activists that were persecuted in the McCarthy era were not fighting just for the absence of war, but were “anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist and demanded an end to United
  • Last Surviving Member of the Move 9 is Released
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Last Surviving Member of the Move 9 is Released
    02 Mar 2020
    Delbert Africa, imprisoned along with eight other members of the Move organization in 1978 in the death of a Philadelphia policeman, is finally free to “tell his story,” said Mumia Abu
  • “Respectable” Black Women Fought Mass Incarceration
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    “Respectable” Black Women Fought Mass Incarceration
    02 Mar 2020
    Back in the days when 90 percent of southern prison inmates were Black, socially conservative Black clubwomen fought for prison reform, believing that “putting Black women in jail was hurting the B
  • If the Left Doesn’t Critique Endless War, Who Will?
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    If the Left Doesn’t Critique Endless War, Who Will?
    02 Mar 2020
    “We must raise the issues of war and imperialism in electoral politics in this country,” even if the Democrats don’t, said BAR senior columnist Margaret Kimberley, speaking at
  • Black America, Endless War and the Evil Genius of Russiagate
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Black America, Endless War and the Evil Genius of Russiagate
    27 Feb 2020
    The Democrats -- who are now the most aggressive war party – have succeeded in linking Donald Trump to Russia, and then lumping all critics of U.S.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us