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
  • omnibus

 Slick Willy Rides Again!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 Aug 2019
 Slick Willy Rides Again!
 Slick Willy Rides Again!

Don't know if it was the Bible
That said it, or if it was Confucius— 
Or, if I just made this shit up:
"Beware of the one riding in
Bareback, facing backwards on
An ol' mule, for he is an impostor!”
Lo and behold, The Great White
Foundation Father, Vice-
Roy of Haiti and Harlem, nurse-
Maid of NAFTA, demon of de-
Regulation, did it with class in
Tobacco country stables, Offal
Office of the DNC dog and pony show

Like Coltrane licks unrelenting from 
“Out Of This World," repeating in my 
Mind hermaneutics of suspicion swirling

Like steroid-driven dervishes...I NEVER
Trusted that M$%#-F@!*... that silvery-
Tongued, false-fingering saxophonist
From Arkansas—even if an ass-kissing
Arsenio showed the candidate A “Love
Supreme...”
I saw through that saran-wrapped
Charlatan who would imprison
Nixon-numbers of Black men and
Women; dismantle welfare with
Workfare from Reagan's wet dreams;
Bomb Bosnia; bless derivatives and
Deconstruction of Glass-Steagall,
During his “peacetime” presidency...

But, Negroz, who've become 
Fat and flabby from high fructose
Corn syrup years of sweetheart 
Dealing Black faces in high places—
Black faces aspiring for soft leather 
Chairs in corporate boardrooms and
Enough cash to stash in Cayman Island
Accounts, and their home freezers—
These Negroz screamed and shouted, 
"Slick Willy was masterful, he hit it
“Out of the park!"

Him was masterful, alright, him
Still a master after all, ain't him?

But in the fields, we keep our
Gazes fixed firmly on the Drinking
Gourd, the North Star, found just
Over picket signs, on picket lines...

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Our poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed performing artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at [email protected]

Neoliberalism

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


Related Stories

Clau O'Brien Moscoso
Dollarization in Ecuador: How the Safest Country in Latin America Became a Money Laundering Transnational Crime Hub
29 January 2025
Ecuador was once a safe country. However, U.S.
The Tricontinental
How Neoliberalism Has Wielded ‘Corruption’ to Privatise Life in Africa
04 December 2024
In Africa, the leading forces of capitalism have ruthlessly wielded a neoliberal conception of corruption to undermine states’ sovereignty and
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
For African/Black Working Class and Colonized Peoples, Midterm Elections in the U.S. Offer No Relief from War, Repression and Capitalist Misery
10 July 2024
This article was
Mia Mottley of the Barbados Labor Party
Keston K. Perry
The Mirage of Mia Mottley’s ‘Progressive’ Politics
13 December 2023
Despite the praise she receives for being the “progressive” leader needed in the Caribbean, Mia Mottley and her policies in Barbados and her wo
For African/Black Working Class and Colonized Peoples, Midterm Elections in the U.S. Offer No Relief from War, Repression and Capitalist Misery
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
For African/Black Working Class and Colonized Peoples, Midterm Elections in the U.S. Offer No Relief from War, Repression and Capitalist Misery
09 November 2022
The 50 year old neo-liberal agenda explains why political choices in this country provide little change that benefits the masses of people.
Obama and Liberals Killed Abortion Rights
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Obama and Liberals Killed Abortion Rights
11 May 2022
The revelation that the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the Roe v.
Biden is No FDR  and Build Back Better Legislation Proves It
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Biden is No FDR and Build Back Better Legislation Proves It
27 October 2021
The idea that Joe Biden is the "most progressive president since FDR" is a propaganda device meant to quiet the Democratic Party left and force
The Obama Presidential Center Will Displace Black People
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Obama Presidential Center Will Displace Black People
13 October 2021
The Obama Presidential Center will inevitably displace a working class Black community in Chicago.
Build Back Better Legislation: New Keynesianism or Neoliberal Public Relations Stunt?
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Build Back Better Legislation: New Keynesianism or Neoliberal Public Relations Stunt?
13 October 2021
Some provisions of Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation benefit the masses of Black people, but this legislation is a bare minimum effort to
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
“Our democracy:” Dictatorship of death merchants in bipartisan Brooks Brothers suits…
06 October 2021

More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Necessity of Birthright Citizenship for Black People
    02 Jul 2025
    Black citizenship was non-existent for the first 200 years that enslaved and free people were present in what became the United States. Even long-standing legal victories are tenuous, and now…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Black Refugees Unwelcomed! Gaou Guinou Balewa, 1973
    02 Jul 2025
    “Haitian refugees and political exiles find themselves being refused the hospitality granted others.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Aggressors Unnamed in Rwanda-DRC “Peace Agreement”
    02 Jul 2025
    The U.S.-brokered 'peace deal' between Rwanda and the DRC whitewashes Rwanda’s occupation and M23 militia crimes.
  • Jon Jeter
    Mamdani’s Train is Running But Blacks Wonder if There is Space for Them
    02 Jul 2025
    Zohran Mamdani’s Harlem socialist vision won NYC’s primary but lost Black voters to scandal-plagued Cuomo by 20 points, exposing the left’s racial blind spot even as Wall Street prepares to spend…
  • Maurice Carney
    Donald Trump’s Congo Venture: A Scramble for Minerals Under the Guise of Peace
    02 Jul 2025
    Trump’s ‘peace deal’ between Rwanda and the DRC is a corporate resource grab disguised as diplomacy, rewarding Rwandan war crimes while U.S. investors stake claims to Congo’s coltan mines. This…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us