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

March, March, March… (For Million Worker March and Brother Ray Quan)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
30 Apr 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Black labor

1.
Dust dances on sunbeams
streaming through busted eyes;
Lunch bucket language
no longer lingers
in forklift fumes

Ghostly weeds peek
through concrete once
rumbling with machines;
crippled pallets loiter
on loading docks,
No longer loaded
with dark skins sparkling
beneath fresh coats of sweat…

WILL WORK FOR FOOD
Reads the crumpled cardboard
sign at the long light—
“Recovery’s
right around the corner—”
getting the vote out…

2.
We tattoo highways
on mountainsides;
Weave jeweled towers
in skylines;
Scoop diamonds from
Mother Earth’s womb…

We conjure City-
sized ships, that glide
smoothly under horses
trotting above ports;
We crown chassis
with treasure chests that
waltz through traffic to
warehouses, windows and
Bellies of the world

3.
We flip the burgers and peel the potatoes,
We pick the grapes, lettuce and tomatoes…
We print the Bible, Koran, pesos and dollars
We stitch the britches, shirtsleeves, and collars…
We print the newspapers, phone and electric bills,
We press stethoscopes, scalpels and dental drills…
We stitch belts and shoes; we ship rhythm and blues…

March, March, March
Militant rank-and-file

March, March, March
Forward an inch—a mile

March, March, March
We never march alone

March, March, March
With leaders of our own—

We divine water—
Electricity and gas;
We clarify sewage—
Transport the mass…

March, March, March
Militant rank-and-file

March, March, March
Forward an inch—a mile

March, March, March
We never march alone

March, March, March
With leaders of our own—

We push the papers—
Monitor the screens;
We count the rand—
Rupees and beans…

March, March, March
Militant rank-and-file

March, March, March
Forward an inch—a mile

March, March, March
We never march alone

March, March, March
With leaders of our own—
March, March, March
Militant rank-and-file

March, March, March
Forward an inch—a mile

March, March, March
We never march alone

March, March, March
With leaders of our own—
March, March, March
Workers on the rise…

March, March, March—
October surprise!

March...

© 2004. 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 Labor
Working Class
class consciousness

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Short word problems: do the math
03 June 2026
Work these word problems. Work them as if your lives depend onYOUR correct answers.YOUR solutions … Because they do:
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Zophia Edwards’ Book, “Fueling Development”
01 April 2026
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Gary Wilson
Dow 50,000 — and workers selling blood
18 February 2026
The Dow Jones hit 50,000, yet 200,000 people a day are selling their blood plasma to survive.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Day 40-something pedophile-protecting government shutdown
19 November 2025
Day 40-something of pedophile-Protecting-government shutdown —Snapshot of resistance revealed our unwillingness to 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Tuesday night’s tiny glimpse of what The People really want
12 November 2025
“Universal suffrage is thus the gauge of the maturity of the working class.
Jon Jeter
From Cadillac-Driving Welfare Queens to Xbox-Playing Slackers, the Oligarchs Vilify Others for Their Own Larceny
09 July 2025
America’s ruling class keeps inventing new boogeymen to disguise its endless war on workers, while wealth flows upward and capitalism’s collaps
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
No kings and things (Of mobilized masses)
25 June 2025
“You can
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
One Big Beautiful Bank Job!
28 May 2025
Masked. Armed to the teeth. Synchronized
Louisiana Workers Council
Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful’ Cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and More
28 May 2025
Following is a fact sheet about how Trump’s “big beautiful” budget bill cuts essential services and benefits for workers to give to the wealthy
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
DOGE— Department Of Grifter Enrichment
07 May 2025
“Empathy is the bane of western civilization.” 

More Stories


  • ​​​​​​​ 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.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    STATEMENT: The Challenge to the Colonial Powers, Delegates to the Fifth Pan-African Congress, 1945
    29 Oct 2025
    “Africans, as a last resort, may have to appeal to force in the effort to achieve Freedom, even if force destroys them and the world.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    The US Targets Colombians by Sanctioning Gustavo Petro
    29 Oct 2025
    “I do not have a dollar in the United States. There is no account to freeze for me.”  - Colombian President Gustavo Petro, solidarity rally in Bogota, 10/24/2025
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Hourly, Hate America Rallies Stampede Through heads of Cruel Reich Cultists
    29 Oct 2025
    "Hourly, Hate America Rallies Stampede Through heads of Cruel Reich Cultists" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Mosaab Baba
    El-Fasher's Fall: A New Chapter in Darfur's Ethnic Cleansing
    29 Oct 2025
    The world's worst humanitarian crisis just found a new epicenter. The capture of El-Fasher signals the start of a worsening chapter in the history of Sudan.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us