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

We were L.A.—way before they…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
19 Oct 2022
🖨️ Print Article
We were L.A.—way before they…
Protesters at Los Angeles City Council, October 11, 2022 (Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP)

“Ignorance allied with power  

is the most ferocious enemy  

justice can have.”  

—James Baldwin

 

Venom-drenched recorded

conversation of rattler city

council criminals—with

Labor serpent fluent in

Forked Tongue—poisoned

the smog—City of Angels

Ruled by devils…

Not our Chicano Moratorium,

MEChA memories of the way

WE were…Could it be that

Class struggle was so simple then?

We were Black and Brown poets

named Myles, Miguel, Alejandro, Raymond…

Named Guzman, Proctor, Mugia, Turner…

burnished by Breakaway sun, singing

songs of solidarity

We were Black and Brown poets

walking vertically, wearing oneness on

our sleeves; standing shoulder to shoulder in

Struggle, filling Compton and L.A. libraries

and stages with four-alarm fire—

WE were L.A.—way before they!

We were Black and Brown poets

carrying compasses: South/East L.A.

We celebrated piping hot pinto beans, juicy

collard greens, hand made tortillas, buttery

cornbread, Jazz, wine, weed and Mariachi

We celebrated boycotted grapes,

brazen black cats, brown berets

and commemorated martyrs—

WE were L.A.—way before they!

We were Black and Brown poets

Sankofa birds flocking, flying forward faster

Resisting Pentagon with the Wind—sausage machine

in South-east Asia gobbling up, grinding down steeled

squads of ghetto/barrio warriors suited for service on

the home-front…

We were ‘Red Car’ babies with complicated

handshakes, Embraces—

way before Black faces in high places

way before Brown faces in high places

white supremacy places at the expense of

Salt of the earth—

WE were L.A.—way before they!

We were Black and Brown poets

Before cesspool plotters/planners backed by

bloody, badged Bandito/Executioner armed wings

arresting

dreams in tarp, tent, cardboard mattress Skid

Rows— Before Huxtabullshitters looking down

Pinocchio

noses at calloused hands, blistered feet of lunch bucket

Brigades…

Before battery-operated, corporate-controlled self

serving ethnic cleansers—treacherous white supremacist

strongmen/women with their worldwide networks—still,

WE were L.A.—way before they!

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. 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.

Anti-Black Racism
Los Angeles
Black Brown unity

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


More Stories


  • In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Anima Adjepong. Adjepong holds a position as Assistant Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexualities Studies at the University of Cincinnati. Their book is entitled Afropolitan Projects: Redefining Blackness, Sexualities, and Culture from Houston to Accra. 
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Anima Adjepong’s “Afropolitan Projects”
    27 Oct 2021
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
  • Book Review: The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto
    Jon Jeter
    Book Review: The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto
    27 Oct 2021
    The idea that a reverse migration to the south is a route to greater political power should be treated with skepticism.
  • U.S. Corporate Media Watch
    Roberto Sirvent, Richard Medhurst
    U.S. Corporate Media Watch
    27 Oct 2021
    Richard and Roberto would like to dedicate this feature to Glen Ford, one of the fiercest critics of U.S. corporate media the country has ever known.
  • Black Alliance for Peace & the U.S. Out of Africa Network Stand with the People of Sudan
    Black Alliance For Peace
    Black Alliance for Peace & the U.S. Out of Africa Network Stand with the People of Sudan
    27 Oct 2021
    There will not be true democracy for Africans as long the U.S., EU, NATO, and Israel train and finance the military in these nations.
  • The U.S. has twice kidnapped Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. His next court appearance is scheduled for Monday, November 1, and supporters are demanding his freedom. Washington’s actions against Saab contradict both international and humanitarian laws. 
    Lauren Smith
    Miami Defenders of Twice US Kidnapped Venezuelan Ambassador, Alex Saab, Rally for his Release
    26 Oct 2021
    The U.S. has twice kidnapped Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us