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

Through the fire of fighting Amazon Workers…
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
20 Apr 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Through the fire of fighting Amazon Workers…
Chris Smalls, a leader of the effort to organize at one of Amazon’s Staten Island distribution centers, after the votes were tallied in New York City on April 1, 2022. (PHOTO: JASON SZENES/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK)

Through the fire of fighting Amazon Workers…

The fire this time: 55 gallon flames leaping reddish,
Gathering up young workers ‘round warmth. Thawing
spirits’ frost and Star-bucking trends…on Staten Island…
Drum, beating, burning, gathering young workers ‘round
Douglass dictum: “Agitate, agitate, agitate!”
Drum, beating, burning, gathering young workers ‘round
Douglass spinoff: “Organize, organize, organize!”
Young workers, “not smart or articulate;” Gathering ‘round
fingers of fire; Teaching themselves alchemy of class
struggle…

The fire this time: Lower/deeper… smoldering resurrection of
Toiler People. From slave ship schematics birthing plantation
concentration camp layouts—State of the art Exploitation—
Despotic, robotic speedup! Birthing skyscraper high turnover—
Blip on the continuum of Enclosures; Taylor System; and Henry
Ford’s Assembly line; and parasitic capitalism’s assorted
aliases…

The fire this time: White heat/hammer steeling new Pull
man Car Porter/Fighting Miner, ILWU/ Chicago Teacher
Lineage: “Too Big To Fail!” Lifting red/white/blue blind
folds revealing who’s Essential. Exposing ‘job creators’
surviving by sucking diamond beads of sweat; Devouring
back pain, blistered feet, cramps from best hours/days/years
of lives; From rumbling bellies scrambling to pay rent with
checks numerically marked, “Insufficient Funds!” From pre
mature ancestors; From paying ‘Pinkerton’ thugs $3,200
each, Daily, in a union town to keep one workplace non
-union…

The fire this time: Hear it crackle. Feel its Bern. Smell stale hot air
huffed and puffed from high fructose corn syrup politicians and
‘Labor’ lackeys of multibillionaire/wannabe slave masters of
space…

The fire this time: Feel its Ferguson-Arab Spring-George Floyd Summer
Occupy-Strike-tober street heat thawing spirits…

The fire this time: Feel the real “Yes, we can!” real “Change you can
Believe in!” in the fiery existential work of…saving our damn
Planet…

© 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  PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Amazon workers
Amazon

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


Related Stories

Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
When the Revolution Comes
17 June 2026
Chris Smalls and his best friend, Derrick Palmer, led the first successful drive to unionize an Amazon warehouse.
Collage saying "we are the union"
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Southern Human Rights Organizing and the Amazon Workers' Struggle
20 December 2023
Jennifer Bates is an organizer with the BAmazon Union, the effort to organize Amazon war
Joe Biden and the Democrats Have Nothing to Offer Organized Labor, the ALU Included
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Joe Biden and the Democrats Have Nothing to Offer Organized Labor, the ALU Included
11 May 2022
The Biden administration pays lip service to the trade union movement but has done nothing to break the Democratic Party’s long tradition of be
Laboring Beyond Black Representation
Too Black
Laboring Beyond Black Representation
06 April 2022
The allure of Black representation in high places can be very dangerous.
Bessemer Alabama Amazon Workers Continue Struggle to Unionize
Saladin Muhammad
Bessemer Alabama Amazon Workers Continue Struggle to Unionize
23 March 2022
The mostly Black labor force at an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama will have a second opportunity to vote for unionization.
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Has a New Corporate Megadonor
Donald Shaw
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Has a New Corporate Megadonor
09 February 2022
Amazon donated $1.7 million to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation last year as it faced allegations of illegal anti-union work.
How Amazon Exploited a Weakened America
Sarah Leonard
How Amazon Exploited a Weakened America
15 July 2021
Amazon will not stop squeezing every drop from workers until those workers have more power.
Bessemer Amazon Union Drive: An Interview with the Lead Organizer
Luis Feliz Leon and Joshua Brewer
Bessemer Amazon Union Drive: An Interview with the Lead Organizer
21 April 2021
“We feel like we got a heck of a start, and we’re proud of it, and we’re proud of the workers that are willing to continue that fight.”
The Union Battle at Amazon Is Far from Over
Alec MacGillis
The Union Battle at Amazon Is Far from Over
21 April 2021
Amazon is increasingly defining what entry-level labor now looks like in America.

More Stories


  • Representatives of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger
    Peoples Dispatch
    Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger withdraw from ECOWAS
    31 Jan 2024
    ECOWAS has long been condemned by West Africa’s popular movements as an agent of French imperialism. With the withdrawal of the three nations, it may usher in a new era for the region.
  • Proceedings of the ICJ
    Black Alliance For Peace
    International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine Welcomes Today’s ICJ Order; Demands its Implementation
    31 Jan 2024
    The Black Alliance for Peace is a leading member of a coalition formed to support the charge of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
  • A man sets up a tent in front of police
    Adam Mahoney
    An Upcoming Supreme Court Case Threatens to Criminalize Homelessness
    31 Jan 2024
    The Supreme Court will soon decide if unhoused people can be issued jail time or fines for sleeping on the streets. Black people experiencing homelessness would be disproportionately impacted. 
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio January 26, 2024
    26 Jan 2024
    In this week’s segment we discuss Kenyans protesting their government’s participation in an impending occupation of Haiti, and why Flint, Michigan still has contaminated water and no justice for its…
  • Anthony Monteiro
    Black Agenda Radio
    Black Politics and Pennsylvania in the 2024 Election Cycle - Part 1
    26 Jan 2024
    Dr. Anthony Monteiro is a Duboisian scholar and founder of the Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation. He joins us from Philadelphia to talk about Black politics in Pennsylvania and…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us