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

In the same boat?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
09 Sep 2026
🖨️ Print Article
USS Abraham Lincoln
The USS Abraham Lincoln is in extreme disrepair after a record 286-day deployment in the Middle East.

BOOM goes tuna and swordfish stuffed brown burlap bags aboard
boats blown to smithereens. Presto! Fishing is now narco-trafficking.
And this violent video game replayed on high seas with impunity is
the new normal. Same boat, different decks?

Bay Of Pigs ghost ships haunt Havana. They bring boatloads of
jet black nights. Sporadic electricity. Spoiled food. Howling bellies.
Dry mouths. Dead dialysis and cancer patients with premature babies. 
Same boat, different decks?

Boatload of bodies dubbed “dignified transfer” return home boxed and
smothered in stars and stripes. While warlords of Wall Street and Washington
do undignified transfers of trillions from our treasure to float boats
on champagne and caviar. To Epstein ports of call. Same boat, different decks?

300 supersized workdays at sea. Exhausted sailors. Minutes from madness.
Several imagine Emancipation Proclamation diving overboard from the
sewage-spewing, moldy shower, soapless, food-short ship, Abraham Lincoln. 
Same boat, different decks?

Black skull and crossbones flag flaps furiously against winds of change.
Must turn SS Cruel Corrupt Titanic-class “destroyer” around — or
run aground! Can’t vote our boat ashore no more. Must convert this ghastly
gray, bloody gunboat into MLK Dr. Che-class radical Love Boat.
US as admirals. US ordering humongous waves of organizations. US ordering
militant millions into sustained strikes, boycotts, demonstrations. MUTINY AHEAD?

© 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.

Caribbean
Iran
Middle East
Latin America
imperialism
Cuba
Blockade
US Navy
uprisings
Working Class

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


Related Stories

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Copy of The U.S. Determination to Achieve Full Spectrum Dominance is Not In Decline
23 September 2026
The trope of the United States being in a state of decline is a common one, but should not be accepted without scrutiny. The U.S.
Jacqueline Luqman
The Perfect Victim Narrative Applied To Foreign Policy Only Keeps U.S. Imperialism Alive
23 September 2026
The demand to call out alleged crimes in Iran or Cuba while those countries face annihilation from the U.S.
Roberta Rivolta
Western activism and the Axis of Resistance
23 September 2026
Western pro-Palestinian activism isolates Palestine from its regional allies, depoliticizing its struggle and reinforcing colonial
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Ultimate Betrayal of Alex Saab and the Fate of Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan People
16 September 2026
The United States got its hands on Alex Saab a second time in order to use him in its case against Nicolás Maduro. The U.S.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
COMMENTARY: The Shrinking American Empire, Glen Ford, 2009
16 September 2026
“The Iraq invasion greatly accelerated the process of U.S. imperialism’s decline.” 
Gary Wilson
Germany’s war drive feeds the far right in Saxony-Anhalt
16 September 2026
The AfD's landslide in Saxony-Anhalt reflects real working-class anger at the war and the arms buildup, but the party redirects that anger towa
Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Guardian Foray: All That's Not Real Is Camouflage
09 September 2026
An Open Letter from the American "Left" allegedly on behalf of unnamed persons said to be Iranian political prisoners has provided co
Imani Nile
Don't Bring None of Your Anti Anti-Imperialist Bullshit to Cuba
09 September 2026
Empire taught us what to believe about the Global South.
Logan McMillen
After Blocking Fuel, the US Turns to Cuba’s Food Supply
09 September 2026
The Trump administration has already cut off Cuba’s access to oil.
Luciano Vasapollo
Cuba Stands Firm, Venezuela Risks Losing its Sovereignty
09 September 2026
Cuba's leadership has chosen resistance over subordination as the blockade tightens, but Venezuela's sovereignty is being stripped away.

More Stories


  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio October 31, 2025
    31 Oct 2025
    This week’s segment includes excerpts of a discussion regarding the New York City mayor’s race and the focus on Zohran Mamdani. But first, we hear from an organizer in Guyana who discusses how U.S.…
  • Map of the Caribbean and Venezuela
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    U.S. Threats Against Venezuela Target the Entire Region
    31 Oct 2025
    Gerald Perreira is the chairperson of the Organization for the Victory of the People in Guyana. He joins us from Guyana to discuss Donald Trump’s regime change threats against neighboring Venezuela,…
  • Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Zohran Mamdani and the New York City Mayor's Race
    31 Oct 2025
    Margaret Kimberley was recently a guest on James Fauntleroy’s YouTube program, Jaybefaunt. They discussed the upcoming mayoral election in New York City that pits the Democratic Party nominee, Zohran…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Shutdown and Neverending Hostility to the Welfare State
    29 Oct 2025
    The federal government shutdown is a fight between Trump and democrats, but it is also emblematic of the tenuous nature of the welfare state in the U.S. The duopoly parties are both committed to…
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    The United States and Israel: The Tale of Two Rogue Settler-Colonial States United by A Commitment to White Supremacy and Barbaric State Violence
    29 Oct 2025
    The genocide in Gaza, the threat to Venezuela, and the targeting of Iran are not isolated crises. They are coordinated fronts in a single war effort attempting to enforce imperial dominance.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us