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

Declaration of Independence (for Donald "Duck" Bailey)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
15 Jul 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Drummer

Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-
limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?
Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
in the womb? Did you drum in past lives?

Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
out of narrow spaces? Drum out of bondage?
Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
escaping captivity?

Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
your way off Gore Island? Out Cape Coast Castle?
Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
Glory into the swinging / Fighting 54th?

Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-
limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?
Did the right hand always know perfectly well
what the left foot was doing? Did the right foot 
always know what the left hand was doing for the
combo; the big band; the village — for the world?

Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-
limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?
Did you appear to teach us to tap our toes, 
snap our fingers, and relax to the Max on an axe?

Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-
limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?
Did you swing and Rhythm-A-Ning across rivers cutting
Brilliant Corners … to Criss Cross deserts for freedom?


© 2026. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved. 

Music
Jazz
Donald Bailey
drumming

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Play, Black Girl, play! (For the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s girls)
18 March 2026
“The music is the magic through a raging storm …”  — Abbey Lincoln Play, Black Girl, play —
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
a few flock notes for jaimie breezy branch
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
a few flock notes for jaimie breezy branch
07 September 2022
a few flock notes for jaimie breezy branch “The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery” —Paul Robeson
Photo: Kevin W. Thorbourne
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)
08 September 2021
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)  

More Stories


  • White Capitalist Law vs “Uncontrollable Blackness”
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    White Capitalist Law vs “Uncontrollable Blackness”
    01 Sep 2020
    The United States “criminalizes Black Americans,” but Black men “are not looking to be controlled” by this racist system, said Douglas Flowe, an historian at Washington Univer
  • Biden Offers Nothing But More War, Austerity and White Supremacy – Without Trump
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Biden Offers Nothing But More War, Austerity and White Supremacy – Without Trump
    27 Aug 2020
    Biden is an unreconstructed racist and warmonger who has been in the forefront of austerity, and Harris is a party hack and mass Black incarcerator who became a prosecutor with police union endorse
  • Freedom Rider: Democrats are Officially Republicans
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Democrats are Officially Republicans
    26 Aug 2020
    The Democrats claim to be the opposition party, but they seek out Republicans, hate the left of their own party, and don’t seem to care if they lose the election.
  • U.S. Militarism toward China is Part and Parcel of American Hegemony Syndrome
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    U.S. Militarism toward China is Part and Parcel of American Hegemony Syndrome
    26 Aug 2020
        American hegemony syndrome has shifted public attention away from the critical problems facing humanity by demonizing China.
  • “The Man Who Heals Women” Calls for an International Criminal Tribunal for Congo
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    “The Man Who Heals Women” Calls for an International Criminal Tribunal for Congo
    26 Aug 2020
    The West lavishes praise on Dr. Denis Mukwege for healing victims of weaponized sexual violence but protects the perpetrators, writes Ann Garrison.  
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us