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

Unbelievable
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
07 Dec 2022
Unbelievable
Statistics as of December 6, 2022 (Image: https://mappingpoliceviolence.us/)

Unbelievable

It’s been a day—
No—two days…
Unbelievable…
It’s been a week—
No—two weeks…
Unbelievable…

Unbelievable…
as if
Magic word directives uttered
in unison—were intoned
across all states, cities, counties,
hamlets, villages, ghettoes, barrios,
reservations, borders
same time; same day—unbelievable…

It’s been a month—
No—two months…
since ‘party lights’
red, white and blue;
since yellow tape command;
oinks on where to stand and
raucous rallies planned; since
ominous warnings to listeners
and viewers:
Since cops killed for fictional
While Black Violations of No
Law—
Unbelievable…

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.

Police
Police Killings

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


Related Stories

Jon Jeter
As the State’s Complexion Darkens, Minnesota’s Liberalism Wanes
18 June 2025
Minnesota’s progressive myth shatters as its racial gaps in income, education, and housing eclipse even Deep South states, and right wing white
Black Alliance For Peace
Oppression Breeds Resistance, Organization Sustains It
11 June 2025
Defeating the war on Black/African people requires solidarity with all who are oppressed and resistance against our common enemy.
Tunde Osazua
Surveilled and Controlled: The High-Tech War on Working Class Black Atlantans
20 November 2024
Under the shield of public safety, Atlanta's police and political leaders have turned it into the most surveilled city in the country, where Bl
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
How to Protest for Sonya Massey
31 July 2024
Sonya Massey’s brutal murder at the hands of the police has resulted in anguish and anger but no differ
Pan-African Community Action PACA 2568)
Pan-African Community Action Condemns the U.S. Settler State for the Murder of Sonya Massey
31 July 2024
The murder of Sonya Massey by the Illinois police is a symptom of a larger, deeply rooted, systemic assault on Black and Brown working-class co
The Honey Trap: The FBI Used an Undercover Cop With Pink Hair to Spy on Activists and Manufacture Crimes
Trevor Aaronson
The Honey Trap: The FBI Used an Undercover Cop With Pink Hair to Spy on Activists and Manufacture Crimes
29 March 2023
In 2020 law enforcement continued their practice spying on activist groups and attempting to entrap them.
Memphis Police Chief Trained with Israel Security Forces
Alice Speri 
Memphis Police Chief Trained with Israel Security Forces
08 February 2023
The chief of the Memphis, Tennessee police department took part in trainings in Israel.
Tennessee’s Tonton Macoute? Or, rotten Orchard called Capitalist State Machine?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Tennessee’s Tonton Macoute? Or, rotten Orchard called Capitalist State Machine?
01 February 2023
                                    &nb
Cop City Kills Before It Opens
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Cop City Kills Before It Opens
25 January 2023
What could possibly go wrong with a $90 million, 85-acre police training ground that the community doesn't want?
The Lethal Threat of White Boss Syndrome
Mark P. Fancher
The Lethal Threat of White Boss Syndrome
19 October 2022
The idea that white people have an inherent right to control Black people permeates to this day.

More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Epitomizes Black Misleadership
    20 Aug 2025
    Mayor Bowser going along to get along with Donald Trump is unsurprising to anyone who has followed her political career. She is the Black misleader par excellence.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Haitian Revolution and its Impact on the Americas, Michel-Rolph Trouillot, 1991
    20 Aug 2025
    “To understand the history of the Americas we must pay tribute to…Haiti.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Delirious New Cold Warrior Ted Cruz Proposes US/Israel/Taiwan/Somaliland Pact
    20 Aug 2025
    Senator Ted Cruz has written an open letter urging Trump to recognize Somaliland, causing jubilation among Somaliland secessionists.
  • Jon Jeter
    Clutching at Pearls, the World’s Largest Criminal Enterprise, the US, Cracks Down on Crime
    20 Aug 2025
    The latest liberal discourse on crime offers gardening as a panacea for violence and pathologizes communities while absolving the state of its role in creating the conditions of poverty and despair.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Ms Maxwell and The Art of The Deal
    20 Aug 2025
    "Ms Maxwell and The Art of The Deal" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us