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

Trauma Trivia
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
21 Apr 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Trauma Trivia
Trauma Trivia

We play America’s longest running game, 
Trauma Trivia—gambling blue—
Daily, weekly, monthly, annually—decades, 
Centuries at a time…We play it again and 
Again and again and again… and… again…

We play: Legal Lynching Blues For 10:
Name the cop whose tatted arm snuffed out Eric 
Garner’s life—boot heel grinding cigarette butt in-
to sidewalk? Name the  executioner cop who kneeled for 9 min. 
naturalizing the apartheid state’s Knee-o-Teen.

We play: Blue Steel Police Gang Names For 20:
Why do police gangs claim names like “Benevolent”
and “Fraternal?”
Name the police gang whose initials rhyme with
slop.

We play: Navy Blue Nicknames For 40:
NYPD officer Williams was nicknamed “Clubber”
because he frequented NYC Jazz clubs: True or False?
True or False: Oakland officer Vasquez was nicknamed
“Choker” because he missed free throws in pickup basket-
ball games? 
Chicago officer Davis was nicknamed “Gloves” because he
battled cold hands throughout his career: True or False?
True or False: Oakland cops nicknamed “The Riders” drove

low-income West Oakland seniors to medical appointments?
Why was Oakland officer Siapno was nicknamed the “Foot
Doctor?” 

We play: Thin Blue Mistakes For 10:
Name the first cop to top the charts with, “I Mis-
took My Taser—Ooops—My Gun For My Taser…”
Name the cop who had a hit covering it…
Which cop charted with the hit “I Shot The Black
Intruder Who Lived In The Apartment I Believed 
Was Mine?”
Name the cop who mistook Mike Brown for Hulk
Hogan and gunned him down?
Name the cop who mistook Walter Scott’s back
for a bullseye and commenced target practice? 

We play: Blue Impersonators Matter For 5:
Name the Florida police impersonator that executed 
a teen for snacking while Black. 
What father and son police impersonator duo had a
hit covering Junior Walker and The Allstars’ “Shotgun?”

We play America’s longest running game, 
Trauma Trivia—gambling blue—
Daily, weekly, monthly, annually—decades, 
Centuries at a time…We play it again and 
Again and again and again… and… again…
And only you… And you… And you… And
You… can end our deadly addiction….

© 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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
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!”
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
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
15 July 2021
Could the pigment of your imagination cause Black magic mascots, props, sops— Black faces in high places—
A known known…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A known known…
08 July 2021
“…there are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
01 July 2021
“History repeats itself,  first as tragedy, second as farce.” —Karl Marx

More Stories


  • Barr's New Task Force Is a Blatant Attempt to Target Racial Justice Protesters
    Chip Gibbons
    Barr's New Task Force Is a Blatant Attempt to Target Racial Justice Protesters
    15 Jul 2020
    The attorney general’s theory rests on the premise that there is a set path by which one radicalizes into becoming violent.
  • Storming the Bastille: #BlackLivesMatter, “Allies” and the Fear of Black Revolt
    Kathryn Bedecarré
    Storming the Bastille: #BlackLivesMatter, “Allies” and the Fear of Black Revolt
    15 Jul 2020
    Does the belatedness and ubiquity/banality of allyship echo an anxiety about the enormous restraint that African Americans have exercised?
  • How Black and Brown Workers Are Redefining Strikes in the Digital COVID Age
    Mike Elk
    How Black and Brown Workers Are Redefining Strikes in the Digital COVID Age
    15 Jul 2020
    White labor leaders are failing to understand non-traditional organizing that has developed from viral social media movements. 
  • Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Dump the Democrats
    Riva Enteen
    Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Dump the Democrats
    15 Jul 2020
    The Democrats are likely to put forward a Black woman prosecutor to legitimize the mass incarceration plague that Joe Biden helped inflict on Black America.
  • Ajamju Baraka on Race, Class and Protest in the United States
    Look Left Staff
    Ajamju Baraka on Race, Class and Protest in the United States
    15 Jul 2020
    Black Alliance for Peace national organizer Ajamu Baraka urged vigilance against US “attempts to control the narrative” of the Black Lives Matter movement.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us