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


  • BAR Book Forum: Asma Barlas’s “Believing Women in Islam”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Asma Barlas’s “Believing Women in Islam”
    03 Mar 2021
    This book focuses on whether discrimination and violence against Muslim women are sanctioned by the Qur’an, as critics of Islam allege.
  • How Should Revolutionaries Relate to this Film? 15 Lessons from Judas and the Black Messiah
    Joseph G. Ramsey
    How Should Revolutionaries Relate to this Film? 15 Lessons from Judas and the Black Messiah
    03 Mar 2021
    Let’s not allow our revolutionary wish-list to keep us from appreciating the ways this film intervenes—with force and clarity—in our present American political discourse.
  • The Radical Practicality of Community Control Over Policing: A Reply to Our Critics
    Pan-African Community Action
    The Radical Practicality of Community Control Over Policing: A Reply to Our Critics
    03 Mar 2021
    Once we are able to secure Community Control over Police and ensure that entire communities are empowered to exercise such control, we will be free to re-imagine and re-envision the very nature of
  • An Open Letter to Chris Hedges: Racism, Not 'Cancel Culture' is the Problem
    Jon Jeter
    An Open Letter to Chris Hedges: Racism, Not 'Cancel Culture' is the Problem
    03 Mar 2021
    The author, a former corporate journalist like Hedges, reminds him that white workers betrayed Black workers and class solldarity, not the other way around.
  • Popular Resistance: Small Acts Can Become a Power No Government Can Suppress
    Margaret Flowers
    Popular Resistance: Small Acts Can Become a Power No Government Can Suppress
    03 Mar 2021
    Together, we can demand that one of the wealthiest nations on earth upholds its responsibility to provide the basic necessities for its people.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us