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

Mississippi Stuntmen
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Aug 2015

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Our poet in residence reflects upon the unique

and innovative skillsets deployed by those who

allegedly take their own lives in police custody

Mississippi stuntmen

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

THANKS

to

Nina

Everybody knows about

Mississippi goddamn, Mississippi goddamn!”

But who knew about Mississippi stuntmen?

Hey Hollywood, get hip, headhunt,

Hire stunt men from Mississippi jails,

Recruit from backseats of Arkansas

police cruisers, Boy Scout, Eagle Scout-

like men, prepared to off themselves—

wizards using everyday objects; hanging them-

selves

with

dental

floss

Hire Mississippi stuntmen, men with sick skill-

sets, leaping up in jail cells, NBA hops and hang-

time

men making Michael Jordan, Dr. J, LeBron look like

weekend-warrior/couch potatoes, defying physics,

gravity, logic, performing impossible physical feats!

Hire Mississippi stuntmen, superb actors, too—

acting normal, hiding severe depression, recurring

suicidal thoughts, until the scene shifts behind bars

Hire Mississippi stuntmen, made for mysteries,

thrillers, whodunits, horror flicks; Masters of the

suicide scene, hanging themselves with anything

on the set—gaffers tape, super hero’s cape, head-

phones, chicken bones, eagle feathers, trailer tethers—

Garbage bag geniuses!

Hire Mississippi stuntmen, …”everybody knows about

Mississippi goddamn,” but who knew about Mississippi

stuntmen? David Copperfields in orange jumpsuits making

Handguns appear out of thin air, making dash-cam video dis-

appear!

Hey Hollywood, get hip, headhunt,

Hire Mississippi stuntmen, one take wonders

who’ll bring your blockbuster in under budget!

Independent contractors in right to work states

of mind: No pensions, 401ks, no social security,

no

Insurance.

Mississippi stuntmen travel and teach in Texas,

Arkansas, in fact, all over the U.S…. Up south,

Down

south,

Out

south,

Anywhere south of the Canadian Border!

Mississippi stuntmen come certified by CWS:

Crackkkers With Stars!

Raymond Nat Turner © 2015 All Rights Reserved

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


More Stories


  • COP26: Greenwashing and Plutocratic Misadventures
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    COP26: Greenwashing and Plutocratic Misadventures
    17 Nov 2021
    For all the policy failures of COP26 it may actually be an inflection point in history -- a point where social and political conditions force a transformation of consciousness and politics that
  • Credit: AFP
    Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Columnist
    A Dirty Occupation: The UN’s Criminal Enterprise and Ecological Catastrophe in Haiti
    17 Nov 2021
    What are the environmental and ecological impacts of large-scale military occupations by the United Nations “peacekeeping” missions?
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    EXCERPT: Genocide: The Social Lynching of Africans and their descendants in Brazil, Abdias do Nascimento
    17 Nov 2021
    The late Brazilian intellectual, artist, and activist Abdias do Nascimento argues that racial democracy is premised on an idea of racial mixing that not only valorizes whiteness, but is predica
  • BAR Book Forum: Camisha Russell’s “The Assisted Reproduction of Race”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Camisha Russell’s “The Assisted Reproduction of Race”
    17 Nov 2021
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
  • It is the liberal class which is determined to censor as much of public discourse as possible. They work with big technology social media companies to determine what will and will not be seen and heard in the media. In so doing they narrow the issues and positions which the public are able to consider for themselves.
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Censorship is the Last Gasp of the Liberal Class
    17 Nov 2021
    It is the liberal class which is determined to censor as much of public discourse as possible.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us