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


  • Operation Tradewinds:  Collective Militarized White Supremacy and Black Neocolonialism in the Caribbean
    Gerald A. Perreira
    Operation Tradewinds: Collective Militarized White Supremacy and Black Neocolonialism in the Caribbean
    18 Aug 2021
    The People of the Caribbean and Latin America Must Say No to U.S. militarism and Subversion.
  • Afghanistan
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Afghanistan
    18 Aug 2021
    Afghanistan has been at the mercy of U.S. interventions for more than 40 years.
  • Descendants Sue Montgomery County to Stop the Human Trafficking of Black Bodies: Laundering of Black Flesh for The For-Profit Market
    Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, BAR editor and columnist
    Descendants Sue Montgomery County to Stop the Human Trafficking of Black Bodies: Laundering of Black Flesh for The For-Profit Market
    18 Aug 2021
    Officials in Montgomery County, Maryland have taken gentrification to a grisly conclusion as they work with a private investor to sell the Moses Macedonia African Cemetery, an early 20th centur
  • Once Again, the Vultures Circle Haiti
    Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
    Once Again, the Vultures Circle Haiti
    18 Aug 2021
    Another earthquake in Haiti provides another opportunity for the NGO community, the Haitian oligarchy, and foreign imperialists to consolidate their profits and power.
  • MANIFESTO: The Attica Liberation Faction Manifesto of Demands and Anti-Depression Platform, 1971 
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    MANIFESTO: The Attica Liberation Faction Manifesto of Demands and Anti-Depression Platform, 1971 
    18 Aug 2021
    Black August: Remembering the Attica prisoner demands as the 50th anniversary approaches.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us