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

Stand in solidarity with our Councilmember (Versus voices of white supremacy/death…)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Jan 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Stand in solidarity with our Councilmember  (Versus voices of white supremacy/death…)
Picketers representing the National Association of Colored Women march past the White House in Washington, DC, July 30, 1956 (Photo: AP)

                                                                                                             Stand in solidarity with our Councilmember  

                                                                                                             (Versus voices of white supremacy/death…)

 

I.

Distant echoes—Sun revolving ‘round flat

Earth— ‘round Inquisition; witch-burning;

‘round bubonic plague— 'round pre-printing

press politics…

Embalmed voices—decomposing pogrom tones—

crunch like dry leaves beneath boots of Strike-tober;

beneath street heat of George Floyd Summer; beneath

Occupy; Arab Spring— beneath history’s forward march…

II.

Prancing peacock proud, tiny stickers boasted,

“I VOTED—”

Hired her to argue and

Fight for us. Sent her to City Hall. Tolt her, “Say

what we say…” Axed her, “Amplify Our voices—

Speak truth and Voice Our choices—

while we work; babysit; help with homework; care

for loved ones/neighbors; make art, money, love, babies.”

Suddenly, sunup to sundown King Cotton voices spit

Bullwhip white noise; Spit 1619 stripes at Black backs… again…

plantation overseer voices—

Civil War amputation without anesthesia voices;

Leaking faucet, running toilet voices; Artificial

intelligence/false consciousness voices call… again…

Asthmatic nazi phlegm voices call… again…

Wheezing, wicked, weaponized, “I can’t breathe!”

Jangling, quavering, nicotine hoarse, death squad

soldier, plastic police voices call… again…

Scowling, steely, tinny fingernails across chalkboard voices;

Glock muzzle mouths to burner phone voices call… again…

Gravelly, gaslit, graveyard, good guy with gun voices

call… again… Troll farm, tiki torch, bestial, bear

spray, January 6th, criminal, Charlottesville voices call… again…

Pacific-prowling aircraft carrier filled with shit voices call… again…

Nasal, hollow, clean coal, fracking fluid/fart voices call… again…

Death rattle, decomposing system on life support voices call… again…

But, hissing, filibustering, burning cross voices—Jim Crow, Bull

Connor, Tulsa, Rosewood, Red Summer, lynching voices will not rob us

of representation…. again…

Bloody Mary, banana republican poll tax, “How many bubbles

in a bar of soap?” “How many jelly beans in a jar?” voices will

not disenfranchise us…. again…



© 2023. 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.

Black politics

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


Related Stories

Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Trash Panda Politics Guides the Black Misleadership Class’s Electoral Dumpster Dive
29 July 2026
The Congressional Black Caucus electoral strategy has turned the 2026 midterm elections into a dumpster dive for corporate interests and Zionis
Mark P. Fancher
The Foolish, Futile Struggle to be Both African and American Will be Televised
29 July 2026
Corporate media require American identity politics which contradict African authenticity.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Building Black Self-Determination and Ending the Politics of Fear
22 July 2026
Black political self-determination is always tenuous, even when Black people hold office.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Patriot Front and What Once Was Chocolate City
08 July 2026
The Patriot Front’s bold incursions into U.S.
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Time to Sharpen Our Weapons and Wits
27 May 2026
Six years ago, George Floyd was murdered by police.
Gary Wilson
From Louisiana to Havana: Law as a weapon against Black power and liberation
20 May 2026
The same legal machinery that once protected Jim Crow segregation has found a new way to strip Black voters of political power without touching
Mark P. Fancher
If Iran has the Strait of Hormuz, What Can Black People Use for Leverage and Power?
13 May 2026
Tennessee just erased its only majority-Black voting district.
Mark P. Fancher
Political Snobbery Delays Black Liberation
29 April 2026
The conditions are ripe for growing Black political consciousness, but revolutionary movements must broaden their reach to all sectors and clas
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: Black Folks and Foreign Policy, June Jordan, 1983.
25 March 2026
“Who will we become if we remain the silent partners to this white arrogance?”
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Ajamu Baraka Remembers Rev. Jesse Jackson
18 February 2026
What is Jesse Jackson’s legacy? Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report editor and columnist, provides his reflections.

More Stories


  • White Supremacy
    Jemima Pierre , Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús
    White Supremacy
    18 Jan 2023
    White supremacy should not be identified solely with self-proclaimed white nationalists. It is a centuries old, international, economic, and political system that cannot be eradicated with…
  • Masterminding Somalia's Misrule
    Dr. Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad
    Masterminding Somalia's Misrule
    18 Jan 2023
    Dr. Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad is a Somali Kenyan and Kenyan citizen. He is the Executive Director of the Institute for Horn of Africa Studies and a specialist in political science, conflict…
  • Ukraine and Imperialism's Death Spiral
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Ukraine and Imperialism's Death Spiral
    18 Jan 2023
    Glen Ford spoke at a May 10, 2014 Ukraine teach-in sponsored by the International Action Center in the wake of the U.S. backed coup. His words were prescient and explain U.S. actions…
  • The Empire Provides A Paper Trail To The Conflict In Ukraine, No Matter What The Latte Left Says
    Jacqueline Luqman
    The Empire Provides A Paper Trail To The Conflict In Ukraine, No Matter What The Latte Left Says
    18 Jan 2023
    Ukraine is a challenge to those who claim to be on the left. War propaganda tells us to support U.S. imperialism, but even cursory knowledge of the facts shows that the U.S. and its allies provoked…
  • BAP Haiti/Americas Team Condemns the Dina Boluarte Coup Regime’s Violent Repression of Protesters in Perú
    Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
    BAP Haiti/Americas Team Condemns the Dina Boluarte Coup Regime’s Violent Repression of Protesters in Perú
    18 Jan 2023
    The Haiti/Americas Team of the Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the Dina Boluarte Coup Regime’s Violent Repression of Protesters in Perú .
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us