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

Camera and Pen
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 May 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Camera and Pen
A mural dedicated to Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the streets of Gaza. (Photo: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)

                                                                                              Camera and Pen  

                                                                      (for Shireen Abu Aqleh and all truth-tellers)

                                                                “I pray you’ll be our eyes/And watch us where we go/

                                                                   And help us to be wise/In times we don’t know…”  

                                                                            —David Foster; Carole Bayer Sager

I.

New world’s birthing, crowning; Laboring

frantically— Truth-tellers, whistleblowers,

journalists— its fearless

Midwifes.

Warning us: The world can’t wait… Cannot sustain

Unsustainable warfare states

Warning us: Stretch stiff, atrophying dream muscles—

Seek antidotes for lethal circuses of strongmen, fat-cats,

Warlords, war-profiteers, bloodthirsty jackals, slimy

fossil Fools…

Our precious truth-tellers, whistleblowers, journalists hurl

themselves in crosshairs of snipers’ scopes. Close

distances between brains and hearts and assassins’

silencers.

Offer up loins, livers, guts to embassy butchers. Sip tea

with a little poison so that we may know… “What’s Goin’

On?”

So that we may know…precious truth-tellers, whistleblowers,

journalists…Never know when two men on motorcycle arrive,

Making good on thousands of threats. Never know when the

elevator door opens for the last time…

Camera and pen original sin—punishable by death— 55

slaughtered south of the border…And 46 slaughtered by

apartheid state agents…And 20 by czarist

carnage…And…

Silence: the sound of gangster states. Darkness: their view.

We ‘know' what they tell us of Desert Shield. Desert

Storm; Special Military Operation; mowing the grass; Cast

Lead;Iraqi Freedom—And other Orwellian operations

Mengele medicine men secretly perform on peace-loving

peoples…

II.

Jesus may have had his eye on the sparrow; but the 20yr old’s

Eye is on the glass.

He sees the world through his scope. She’s math.Wind. A dot.

The raid her trap. He watches; waiting in sand with rifle nick

named “Gritty Golda.”

Loner. Few friends. Below average kid. 8 weeks of sniper school.

Robot programmed to hate; to kill. Several weeks more of precision

shooting. 100 meters. 200 meters. A mile or more… Attention to

detail.

Enemy—not sister; niece; aunt; daughter; Mother—appears in his cross

hairs. Feminine neckline between helmet and vest. Two second flight—

crimson aerosol— “Without warning, without remorse…” as he was

Taught. Doing his job. Following orders.…His 54th confirmed kill.

“Thank you for your service…”

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

Palestine
Shireen Abu Akleh

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


Related Stories

x
Craig Mokhiber
No, Israel does not have ‘a right to exist.’ Quite the contrary, actually.
04 August 2026
"Unlike the Zionist claim that 'Israel has a right to exist,' my assertion is rooted in international law.
Nicaragua
Becca Renk Foster
Nicaragua to Raise Its Voice for Palestine in Another Landmark Case at the ICJ
04 August 2026
Against the backdrop of Israel’s renewed attacks on Palestine, the World Court is set to hold public hearings in Septembe
Ramzy Baroud
The Spark in Tell: How a Village Resistance Disrupted Israel’s West Bank Strategy
29 July 2026
Palestinians have the right to defend themselves under international law and they exercised it in the town of Tell on the West Bank. 
Noah Hurowitz
Trump’s Sanctions Against the ICC Are Unconstitutional, Rights Groups Say
22 July 2026
The human rights groups’ suit came as the Trump administration vowed to destroy the International Criminal Court entirely.
Jeremy Scahill , Jawa Ahmad
Exclusive: Internal Documents Show Trump’s “Board of Peace“ Moving to Crush Palestinian Self-Determination
24 June 2026
Gaza proposals obtained by Drop Site show Trump’s board attempting to force a Palestinian surrender that Israel could not achieve in war.
Ramzy Baroud
Why Didn’t Iran Put Gaza on the Table? A Difficult Answer
03 June 2026
From Gaza to Tehran, from the politics of resistance to the limits of regional diplomacy, a pressing question has resurfaced amid the 2026 war:
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: The Palestine Question: Background and Solution, Edward Atiyah, 1946
20 May 2026
“It is impossible to make a national home for one people in a country inhabited by another, except by dislodging the latter.”
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Regarding Nuclear War Between Israel and Iran
15 April 2026
The political fallout from Trump’s recklessness in West Asia continues around the globe, while some wonder how far the radioactive fa
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
What is the 'Left' in the Era of Global Fascism
18 March 2026
There is no coherent and sustained leftist movement at the very moment that U.S. led global fascism is accelerating.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
The Light of Palestine Will Lead the Way to Global Liberation
18 March 2026
Black Agenda Report Editor and Columnist, Ajamu Baraka, recently gave a presentation at the 4th International Conference “Palestine: The Nation

More Stories


  • ELAPRE
    There is no Revolution Without Revolutionary Consciousness
    13 Aug 2025
    Revolution requires more than violence—it demands collective awakening. Haiti’s crisis exposes the danger of hollow slogans masquerading as liberation.
  • Youssef Fares
    Survivors of Aid Massacres: Israel Is Eroding Gaza’s Social Fabric
    13 Aug 2025
    As the world condemns indiscriminate bombing, Israel continues to commit genocide by social erosion. The systematic dismantling of Gaza's social foundations through massacres at aid lines,…
  • Alan MacLeod
    The CIA Built Hundreds of Covert Websites. Here’s What They Were Hiding
    13 Aug 2025
    As governments worldwide crack down on "foreign disinformation", America’s most powerful intelligence agency has been caught running the largest known network of fake media outlets.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio August 8, 2025
    08 Aug 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss a protest exposing corporate media’s collusion with the U.S. and Israeli governments in reporting genocide and how ICE is violating the law and human rights with…
  • ICE Detention
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    ICE Mass Deportations in New York
    08 Aug 2025
    We’re joined by Mario Bruzzone, Vice President of Policy at the New York Immigration Coalition. He joins us from New York City to discuss Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detentions taking…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us