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

STOP the killers!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
07 Jan 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Fisherman

Burlap bags stuffed with tuna and blue marlin.
Catch of a lifetime! Juan’s already counting the
cash in his head. Visualizing pawn shop guitar
for Gabriel, his 10 yr old son, graduating to guitar
from ukulele. Gabriel’s greeted morning rooster-
like— since age 3—  with “Let’s practice, Papa!”

Before pushing off to sea Juan bought the computer 
Rosario wished for from a journalism student he met
at the fish market training fishmongers to compute. He
also bought the bicycle Maria longed and stashed it at
a neighbor’s house. Juan was out to make his young
family’s Christmas the best ever.

BOOM!
Bloody mess below his waist. Juan’s a strong swimmer. But
he can’t feel his legs. He quickly grabs on to fiery flotsam.
Is that Javier hanging on for dear life across from him?
He hears his children’s joyful shrieks. Sees them jumping
Up and down with joy. He kisses Lourdes long and tenderly …

BOOM!
A pomade man has amplified orders of
his demented Don into “Kill them all!”
Laughing, they dub it  a “double-tap 
strike —”
like some cool dance step
signaling mad moves to come …


© 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.

Venezuela
imperialism
US Military
Military aggression
extrajudicial killings
Caribbean

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


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: O.A.S., Roque Dalton, circa 1970
28 October 2026
“The President of the United States is more/ the President of my country/ than the President of my country.”
Ricardo Vaz
Western Media Accept Trump’s Plundering of Venezuelan Oil as Business as Usual
28 October 2026
Venezuelanalysis editor Ricardo Vaz exposes how the media establishment presents no principled opposition to the imperialist predation of Venez
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: Calypso as Comment, Gordon Rohlehr, 1979
21 October 2026
“So the calypso ceases to be entertainment on a trivial level and becomes a vehicle whereby the society is going back and searching f
Belen Fernandez
Israel’s Lebanese Land Grab
21 October 2026
Under the guise of a farcical “pilot zone” project to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty, Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth strategy whi
Issa G Shivji
Positioning Pan-Africanism In The Geopolitical Turmoil
21 October 2026
As we are experiencing a world order in disorder, with war and conflagrations and a shifting balance of power, Issa Shivji calls for a Sovereig
Stephen Millies
Don’t Let Them Kill Cilia Flores!
14 October 2026
While Trump pardoned an actual drug lord president, he keeps a kidnapped Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, First Combatant Ce
Black Alliance For Peace
The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Renewal of Neocolonial Gang Suppression Force UN Mandate in Haiti
07 October 2026
The UN's renewal of the Gang Suppression Force mandate is part of a wider hemispheric project to reassert military control across the Americas.
Berthony Dupont
How the OAS Works for Imperialism in Haiti
07 October 2026
The armed groups in Haiti are not a spontaneous wave of banditry, but a scheme orchestrated by imperialist powers in concert with a reactionary
Abel Prieto
Venezuela: It Is What You See
30 September 2026
A photograph of Delcy RodrĂ­guez smiling with Donald Trump after the U.S.
Pambazuka News Editors
TĂĽrkiye, UAE, and the Imperialist Chain: African Ports and War
30 September 2026
Imperialist competition and wars that facilitate extractivism have long shaped the use of seaports for access to resources, markets, and devalu

More Stories


  • CARICOM officials arrive in Haiti
    Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
    Why is CARICOM Betraying Haiti on Behalf of the U.S.?
    06 Mar 2024
    The impending occupation of Haiti by Kenya is supported by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) with direct assistance in the mission coming from CARICOM states. The question is, why?
  • Hands off Uhuru logo
    Solyana Bekele
    FBI Storms African Liberation Movement with Fabricated Charges: U.S. Government Escalates Brutal Assault
    06 Mar 2024
    The Uhuru 3 were recently indicted by the federal government, continuing a historical pattern of connecting revolutionary Black organizations and movements to an outside malign state actor to destroy…
  • The Turkana people protesting at the Africa Climate Summit
    Aby L. Sène
    Western Climate Agenda Goes Against African Development
    06 Mar 2024
    Carbon and biodiversity offsets are the latest imperialist weapons used against African people and their nations. Self-determination is the key to ecological health for the continent.
  • Rosa Parks
    Ingrid Banks , Jaime Alves
    Antiblackness and Palestinian Humanity: A Call to Resist Fear
    06 Mar 2024
    Internationalism is the path toward Black liberation. Black people must resist the push to silo our movements and move in this spirit of Rosa Parks - with fearless integrity.
  • A mourner places incense at a memorial for Aaron Bushnell
    Julia Wright
    A Love Supreme
    06 Mar 2024
    Aaron Bushnell's act of self-immolation is a symbol and a call for people around the world to break their silence and fight for a free Palestine.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us