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

‘Anarchist jurisdiction’ State of Mind…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
30 Sep 2020
🖨️ Print Article
‘Anarchist jurisdiction’ State of Mind…
‘Anarchist jurisdiction’ State of Mind…

Some thugs like to 
Lie all day—

strip our rights away,

make The People pay,
Chanting, “U-S-A…!”
Hopping flights of fantasy
for the greedy bourgeoisie
And the confederacy—
But we’re taking an
Anti-fascist stand:
‘Cause we’re in an
‘Anarchist jurisdiction’ 
State of Mind…

It seems so easy
Lying day to day—
stripping our rights away,
making The People pay,
Chanting, “U-S-A…!”
Out of touch with the 
Peoples’ pain and need—
Protecting all crimes 
of billionaire greed—
But we’re taking an
Anti-fascist stand:
‘Cause we’re in an
‘Anarchist jurisdiction’ 
State of Mind…

We’ve seen enough of 
all the nazi stars,
all the lawless czars
And the cult of death
of a bungling Bleach Regime—
Mengele Medicine Team—
We can’t afford to waste more
Time—before we ORGANIZE—
Figuring out how we will rise 
to Make the Rich Pay!

Poet’s note: Inspired by the great Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind”

© 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

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
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!”
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
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
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.

More Stories


  • Reclaiming the Power of Rebellion
    Elizabeth Hinton, Derecka Purnell
    Reclaiming the Power of Rebellion
    26 May 2021
    The police as they exist today need to be abolished, there’s no question. “Diversity doesn’t change the fundamental dynamics of policing.”
  • Dr. Gerald Horne
    Against Left-Wing White Nationalism
    26 May 2021
    Much of what is called the “left” still insists that the American “revolution” of 1776 is “unfinished,” when history shows that white supremacy was the intended result.
  • BAR Book Forum: Michael Rothberg’s “The Implicated Subject”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Michael Rothberg’s “The Implicated Subject”
    26 May 2021
    Most people contribute to injustice not as direct perpetrators but as indirect participants who enable, perpetuate, benefit from, and inherit histories of violence and contemporary systems of explo
  • BAR Book Forum: C. Riley Snorton’s “Black on Both Sides”
    C. Riley Snorton
    BAR Book Forum: C. Riley Snorton’s “Black on Both Sides”
    26 May 2021
    The inhabitation of the un-gender-specific and “fungible” also mapped the affective grounds for imagining other qualities of life and being for those marked by and for captivity.
  • How Black Lives Matter Changed the American Conversation About Israel and Palestine
    Marya Hannun
    How Black Lives Matter Changed the American Conversation About Israel and Palestine
    26 May 2021
    The surge of attention to the Israeli occupation is unimaginable without last year’s “George Floyd” protests.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us