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

Statues of Limitation
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 Sep 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Statues of Limitation
A flatbed truck carries a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from Market Street Park in Charlottesville. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Statues of Limitation

A German comrade
quipped, “When you
Come to Frankfurt
You’ll find bronze celebrating
Poets, painters, philosophers—
But you won’t find the
Führer’s face any place—
Bratwurst, beer and Jazz
in Berlin; but you’ll find
lime green leprechauns
before patinas of Goebbels,
and Goering glaring from
park and plaza pedestals…”

Italian bandmates chimed in,
“Come with us when we go home—
you won’t find Mussolini’s
mug in Milan, or Rome…”
And the Butoh dancer blurted
“And no Tojo in Tokyo!”

Why’d I softly reply,
“ Dixie—south of the
Canadian Border—sits
pock marked with 1,000
syphilitic statues of
Slavers, traitors, terrorists—“
Instead of screaming,
“Would you name your child
Jezebel Jackson,
Judas Jones,
Satan Smith, or
Sheriff Joe—
Would you call yourself
a nigger, bitch, or hoe?
Would you celebrate
Stonewall Jackson, or
Robert E. Lee—
Would you tell your Mother
You’re an SOB?”

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved

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 and PayPal.

confederate statues

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


More Stories


  • Kevin Edmonds
    The Kenyan Intervention in Haiti: Another Wave of “Diplomatic” Terrorism
    03 Jul 2024
    The invasion of Haiti that has just begun with the arrival of Kenyan police, was long in the making. It is the end result of a long imperialist war of destabilization and propaganda against the…
  • Gus Griffin
    The Sports World’s Selective Moral Indignation Part II
    03 Jul 2024
    The imbalanced and prejudiced criteria by which the International Olympic Committee chooses to take action against countries reveals the political and moral inconsistencies…
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #52
    03 Jul 2024
    In Africa, there is a growing spirit of Pan-Africanism and political consciousness that is driving a movement for decolonization. Salifu Mack speaks on his experience in Burkina Faso and the changing…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Terrible Origins of July 4th
    03 Jul 2024
    The causes of the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence are rarely taught in this country. The American colonists chafed under British rules limiting their settlements and feared they…
  • Hamza Hamouchene
    The psychology of oppression and liberation
    03 Jul 2024
    As the world watches the ongoing genocide in Gaza, a thorough reading and understanding of Frantz Fanon's writings around colonialism, revolution, and psychology are critical to the struggle for…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us