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

How will we pay for it?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Jan 2022
🖨️ Print Article
How will we pay for it?
M. Wuerker POLITICO Universal Uclick

                                                                                            How will we pay for it?

How will we pay for it?
How will we pay for it:
59 missile shooting spree—
$110, 000 a pop?
Mother Of All Bombs?
A boondoggle bomber?
800 bases in faraway places?
States with more warheads than congress members? A modern-medieval torture
chamber on foreign soil? A weapons lab disguised as an apartheid state?

How will we pay for it?
How will we pay for it:
Surgical strikes on hospitals—
renaming babies Collateral Damage?
Orders to “Light ‘em up!”?
Lethal gifts dropped on wedding parties?
‘Taking out’ other nations’ generals?
Swapping strongmen for wrong men?

How will we pay for it?
How will we pay for it:
Drinking water juiced with jet fuel?
Freedom to breathe blue-black air?
Fracking fluid flavored springs?
Freedom of fires gorging themselves year round?
Freedom of floods to wash away labor’s fruits?

It’s not neurosurgery or rocket science—
and I’m no genius but— I know-I know
I know-I know-I know-I know-I know-I know…
I know-I know-I know-I know-I know-I know…
Tents, tarps, cardboard mattresses—cancer,
Diabetes, tooth decay are one way we pay—
Feel free to fill in anything I’ve missed…
 

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet;  BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at:  

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Military Industrial Complex

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


Related Stories

Biden has Money for War, but Not for the Poor
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Biden has Money for War, but Not for the Poor
23 March 2022
Joe Biden and congress have plenty of money for the military industrial complex, but only austerity for the people.
US War Lobby Fuels Conflict in Russia, Ukraine, and Syria: Ex-Pentagon Advisor
Aaron Maté
US War Lobby Fuels Conflict in Russia, Ukraine, and Syria: Ex-Pentagon Advisor
12 January 2022
A former senior advisor at the Pentagon confirms what was obvious to those who pay attention.
Raytheon’s Raven caws “War—Evermore!” Not wind beneath Negroz wings…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raytheon’s Raven caws “War—Evermore!” Not wind beneath Negroz wings…
29 September 2021
Afghan Crisis Must End America’s Empire of War, Corruption and Poverty
Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies  
Afghan Crisis Must End America’s Empire of War, Corruption and Poverty
01 September 2021
The U.S.

More Stories


  • The City Has Failed University City Townhome Residents. They Should Pay For It — Literally
    Ernest Owens
    The City Has Failed University City Townhome Residents. They Should Pay For It — Literally
    17 Aug 2022
    The traumatizing clearing of the University City Townhome encampment in West Philadelphia symbolizes the ongoing racial injustice of gentrification. One solution: The city should buy the…
  • ‘West Wants to Change Regimes for Itself’: Africans Strategize In Washington Against Western-Backed Leaders
    Julie Varughese
    ‘West Wants to Change Regimes for Itself’: Africans Strategize In Washington Against Western-Backed Leaders
    17 Aug 2022
    The U.S. and its European allies often determine who will govern African nations. Attendees at a recent conference discussed how to end this dynamic and create true sovereignty on the African…
  • New Research Finds CIA Used Black Americans as Drugs Experiment Guinea Pigs
    Kit Klarenberg
    New Research Finds CIA Used Black Americans as Drugs Experiment Guinea Pigs
    17 Aug 2022
    The CIA's Operation Paperclip brought Nazi scientists to the U.S. and MKULTRA mind control experimentation was one of its projects. Black prison inmates were targeted for these unethical procedures.
  • Manufacturing Consent: How the United States Has Penetrated South African Media
    Ajit Singh, Roscoe Palm
    Manufacturing Consent: How the United States Has Penetrated South African Media
    17 Aug 2022
    The CIA has played a role in controlling South African media from the days of apartheid to the present.
  • Sudanese Communist Party Forms a New Alliance Committed to Ending Military Rule
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Sudanese Communist Party Forms a New Alliance Committed to Ending Military Rule
    17 Aug 2022
    After withdrawing from the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), the Sudanese Communist Party has continued to call for democratic civilian rule.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us