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

Shinobu, is this what solidarity looks like? 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
31 Mar 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Shinobu, is this what solidarity looks like? 
Shinobu, is this what solidarity looks like? 

Now, I wasn’t Yuri Kochiyama
amidst toppled chairs, gun smoke
scented chaos, cradling Malcolm’s
heavy head on the Audubon Ballroom 
floor as his double ought buck shot 
pocked chest oozed ruby rivulets…

I arrived at the Asian elder split
second after the unmusical thud
of his head hitting concrete—after he’d missed
the curb, stumbled and fallen on 14th/Broadway

I didn’t worry whether or not scarlet streaming
from his temple was HIV or Hep C tainted; I didn’t
Worry whether or not some right turn-making, out
of control driver would wipe us out; I didn’t worry
about an out of the blue lawsuit; I didn’t worry about
Blu klux klansmen seeing me; seeing blood; Seeing
me; seeing blood; seeing me kneeling beside the Asian elder—
My magic gun—seeing me rifling his pockets robbing him…

I worried about napkins and bandaids in my backpack 
being sterile—or not sterile
I worried about speaking softly as I stanched crimson
streaming from his temple
I worried about being in over my head—and just then I
spotted EMT and asked an onlooker to flag them down

He did. And they came; they saw; praising preliminary
Work and taking over. No sirens. No flashing red, white
blue and yellow party lights. No yellow tape theater. No 
surly sauntering for overtime. No gruff barking. No dis-
respect. No baton blows. No frame-up. No dead samaritan.
No violence workers—I could breathe and leave High… 

© 2021. 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 https://www.youtube.com/user/zigilow

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 

Anti-Asian Hate

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


Related Stories

Freedom Rider: Establishment Role in Anti-Asian Bigotry
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Freedom Rider: Establishment Role in Anti-Asian Bigotry
24 March 2021
Joe Biden is no better than Trump in advocating de facto white supremacy with his foreign policy, and corporate media fan the flames of anti-Chines
The Answer to Anti-Asian Racism Is Not More Policing
Kayla Hui
The Answer to Anti-Asian Racism Is Not More Policing
24 March 2021
More policing rarely results in justice for anyone, and only puts Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color (BIPOC), including Asian people

More Stories


  • Adele Robichez , José Eduardo Bernardes , Larissa Bohrer
    Brazilian Lawmaker From the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement Demands Investigation of “Planned Massacre” That Left 121 Dead
    05 Nov 2025
    The lawmaker states that Governor Cláudio Castro’s operation was “a massacre carried out in secret” and calls for an independent forensic investigation.
  • Roger McKenzie
    The Devastation in Melissa’s Wake and the ‘new normal’
    05 Nov 2025
    Hurricanes might have natural causes, but the tragedy that follows is entirely human-made and a consequence of capitalist greed, asserts Roger McKenzie.
  • Michael F. Brown
    Trump Ambassador Pick Vows to Pressure South Africa Over Gaza Genocide Case
    05 Nov 2025
    The nomination of an ambassador to South Africa who vows to "pressure" the country over its Gaza case confirms that the U.S. considers the practice of following international law to be a punishable…
  • book
    Dylan Evans
    Book Review: The Sword and the Neck – Reading the al-Aqsa Flood by Yanis Iqbal
    05 Nov 2025
    Operation Al Aqsa Flood was immediately cast as unprovoked terrorism. This review examines a work that dares to reframe it as the inevitable act of a people pushed to the brink.
  • x
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Z!0nIsm and Race in the White Empire | w/ Gerald Horne & Ajamu Baraka
    05 Nov 2025
    BAR Editor and Columnist, Ajamu Baraka, joined BettBeat Media alongside Gerald Horne to discuss zionism and white supremacy.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us