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

They Wear The Masks
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
19 Aug 2026
🖨️ Print Article
ICE

“We wear the mask that grins and lies, 
it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes …” 
                           â€”Paul Laurence Dunbar

They wear the masks —
while looting our vast power of the purse 
J6-pardons, or simply worst of the worse

They wear the masks —
concealing profits of private prison-profiteers
rounding up co-workers, comrades, and peers

They wear the masks —
abducting co-workers, neighbors, and next of kin
white supremacist predators … hunting dark skin

They wear the masks —
hiding Hitlerian, stroke-twisted, swastika smirks
and sadistic glee — showing off torturous works

They wear the masks —
cloth covering the cruel and Corrupt Reich Cult
spreading COVID-ish violence, terror and tumult

They wear the masks —
revealing only cold, crimson of bloodshot eyes
from guzzling Goebbels’ and Boss Tweet’s lies …

They wear the masks —
of a quickly collapsing, mass murderous empire
reduced to ruling by brutal beatings and gunfire

They wear the masks —
shrouding servile snouts, wrinkled cruel and sadistic
battering our better aspirations, while going fascistic

They wear the masks —
that someday soon our mighty millions must remove —
for the chance to change; to better; and really improve!

© 2026. 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.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Fascism
white supremacy
Deportation
state violence
private prisons

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
Find me another 11,780 votes?
16 September 2026
Find me another 11,780 votes?Resurrection of old questions:How many jelly beans in a jar, How many bubbles in a bar of soap?
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Neoliberalism to Trumpism: The Re-Normalization of White Supremacy as State Ideology
29 July 2026
The crisis of late-stage capitalism has stripped away the liberal disguise and revealed white supremacy as the official ideology of t
Devin B. Martinez
ICE Killings Fuel Nationwide Protests
22 July 2026
Recent killings at the hands of federal agents have fueled protests across the US, including a nationwide day of action on July 18.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
DOCUMENT: “We Will Find You and We Will Kill You”: United States Counterterrorism Strategy, 2026
15 July 2026
“Americans should be safe to live their lives without the fear of terror attacks, the threat of Jihadists, the flooding of our commun
Black Alliance for Peace NYC/NJ Citywide Alliance
Collective Statement Delivered at Delaney Hall Rally - June 12, 2026
15 July 2026
Capitalist predation and imperialism displace people from their homelands. Once in the U.S.
Abayomi Azikiwe
Detroit People’s Tribunal Takes Mask off ICE
08 July 2026
Activists gathered from various areas of Michigan to report on the excesses and brutality of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
F$$K the Fourth: Declaring Our Collective Independence from the Sinking Ship of U.S. Empire
01 July 2026
The settler colonial state is now more corrupt and more unequal than even the genocidal "founding fathers" imagined.
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Trump and America’s Fascist Forefathers
01 July 2026
Donald Trump is not an anomaly, but the heir of fascism which began in 1776 and continued throughout U.S. history.
Elias Isquith
White supremacy and slavery: Gerald Horne on the real story of American independence
01 July 2026
It's time to revisit America's heroic creation myth and what really happened in 1776, author-historian tells Salon.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
War House hosted cage-fighting for 250th what’s next?
24 June 2026
Navy Blue Angels fly over. Air Force Thunderbirds fly over.Offal Office to South Lawn, War House warlords walk onBlood. 

More Stories


  • Gerald Horne on U.S. Foreign Policy - Part 2
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Gerald Horne on U.S. Foreign Policy - Part 2
    28 Apr 2023
    Dr. Gerald Horne is an author and historian who currently holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston.
  • Ralph Yarl and the History of Racist Violence
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Ralph Yarl and the History of Racist Violence
    28 Apr 2023
    Dr. Melina Abdullah is Director of Black Lives Matter Grassroots and Co-Founder of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles. She is also a Professor of Pan-African Studies at California State University Los…
  • Restoring Voting Rights for People with Felony Convictions
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Restoring Voting Rights for People with Felony Convictions
    28 Apr 2023
    Dr. Kristen Budd is a Research Analyst with the Sentencing Project. She joins us from Washington to discuss their new report, “Increasing Public Safety by Restoring Voting Rights.” The report…
  • Joe Biden's Re-Election Announcement
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Joe Biden's Re-Election Announcement
    28 Apr 2023
    Margaret Kimberley was a guest on the Sputnik program, The Final Countdown, with hosts Ted Rall and Manila Chan. In this excerpt, she discusses the announcement of Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.
  • Why Americans Are Shot at the "Wrong House"
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Why Americans Are Shot at the "Wrong House"
    26 Apr 2023
    People in the U.S. venerate its violent history, support violence committed by the state, and remain very racist, yet express shock when individuals kill and maim. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us