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

My two new lil nieces: Session 1 Lesson 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
21 Sep 2022
🖨️ Print Article
My two new lil nieces: Session 1 Lesson 1

My two new lil nieces: Session 1 Lesson 1

“And you very small persons will not have to die

if you make yourselves heard! So come on, now,

and TRY!” — Dr. Seuss

Infant eyes fixed on big colorful pages—

Preschool sister’s holding her. Rocking her

World with reading—student’s ready! Uncle

sent Dr. Seuss—‘Uncle’ s Alphabet’ follows:

A’s for Anti-Black Arm, crooked, tatted, crushing windpipe

B’s for Blu Klux Klan/Baton/Blunt force/Broken bones…

C’s for Cracked skull; Cuffs too tight: Circulation cut off

D’s for Democracy—Don’t believe your lil lying eyes…

E’s for Extremist: ‘white’ supremacist views blasting you as NEWS…

F’s for Flashlight-busted—bloodied scalp—‘Fighting crime’

G’s for Glock—Gun-thug—‘Good shoot’ ’10-ring’/center mass

H’s for Hatred of Black and Brown skins like Yours/like Ours…

I’s for ICE cold-blooded killers hunting families trapped on borders

J’s for Justifiable Homicide/Juvenile Detention/January 6th…

K’s for Knee—on neck 9 min.—blu klux klansman extinguishing cigarette butt

L’s for Legal Lynching; Less Lethal: put eye out/disfigure face/damage brain…

M’s for Mace—in your

face—stay in your place, lovely little ladies!

N’s for Nigger—cops glaring at mirrors, mumbling to themselves—daily…

O’s for Obey—do as they say—whatever nonsense/whatever false pretense

in ‘self-defense’

P’s for Presto! Planted ‘evidence!’ ’Puttin cases on’ people disappearing ‘up the river’

Q’s for Questions cops ask over and over: “Where you going/coming from?????”

R’s for Routine traffic stop Tourettes—Routine potty-mouth ‘field interrogations’

S’s for “Stand down!” The command: Do not STOP murderous knees and arms at work!

T’s for Trauma/Toxic-masculinity—universal viral load—infecting fascists…

U’s for Useless in Uvalde—lovely children and their teachers needlessly died…

V’s for Violence: shopworn ‘service’/product peddled by policing pimps…

W’s for War on the poor; War on the working-class

X’s for X-rays exercising 1st Amendment rights: Assembling/Speaking out.

Y’s for Yearly/tally of blu klux killings normalized as ‘civilized’

Z’s for Zoos barbaric, bestial ‘corrections’ nazis keep for love of money…

© 2022. 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.

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


More Stories


  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    U.S. Liberal Media Literacy Guide: The World Bank and the IMF
    26 Aug 2026
    The IMF and World Bank are not subjects the corporate media cover in any real sense. Instead, their role is treated as unquestionably immutable and beneficial.
  • Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective
    The Guardian Letter: The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective Responds
    26 Aug 2026
    The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) wrote this response to the open letter To Iran's political prisoners, 'trapped between two blades of a scissors' which appeared in The…
  • Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective
    AISC Red Paper #2: The Multiple Fronts of Iranian Anti-Imperialism
    26 Aug 2026
    The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) offers an analysis of the Ramadan War and the multiple fronts of Iranian anti- imperialism. It uses anti-imperialist methodology, grounded in…
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    Declaration of a Zone of Peace
    26 Aug 2026
    From the blockade of Cuba to the kidnapping of Venezuela's president, U.S. imperialism is recolonizing the Americas, and the only answer is a Zone of Peace built through popular struggle and anti-…
  • Pamela Colloff
    Florida Is Executing Prisoners at a Record Pace, Even as Most of the U.S. Abandons the Death Penalty
    26 Aug 2026
    Early last year, Governor Ron DeSantis began signing death warrants at a faster rate than ever before. What followed was the most intense period of executions the state has carried out in more than…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us