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

No kings and things (Of mobilized masses)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Jun 2025
🖨️ Print Article
No Kings protest on highway

“You can’t dethrone a king
if you don’t know they exist.”
― Jasun Ether 

Today’s the tiny tip of an over-warmed iceberg. Its militance
Melts into 2,000 streams, rivulets and rivers of resistance!
Its waters rush cross country. They pour precious
Antifascist sediment onto our real estate-ravaged streets … 

The raging waters rush through reservations; campuses; through
Workplaces; state and private prisons. The waters trickle through
Quiet hamlets …  Through muffled villages and tidy town squares.
They are contaminated with courage.          Courage is contagious!

The raging waters flow through bowels beneath cities never
Sleeping. Cities with big shoulders. Cities where little cable cars

Climb halfway to the stars. Cities where angels strap on wings of
Resistance to fly above hoodlums on horses/bullies with badges.

No kings and things
No kissing rings
On bomber wings

No strongman’s strings
No ding-a-lings
Scooped from bullrings

No Kings Day Of Defiance—
Of coalition and alliance—
Revolutionary science …

Freedom rider trains— stuffed sardine-tight— arrive at crowded
Stations. Emptying to overcrowded streets above takes 30 minutes.
Antifascist riders bet on sardine-tight trains; over shackles and chains;
Over boxcars bound for ‘black sites’/disappearing concentration camps …

Rainbow signs bloom like flowers from Arab Spring and
George Floyd Summer: THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE
IS STRONGER THAN THE PEOPLE IN POWER!
NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR! And, ICE IS BEST CRUSHED!

Harmonic resistance of tubas, trombones, saxophones and
Drums drown out hate speech of heel-clickers.  And angry
Antiwar activists shout, “Thank you for your service!” to war-weary
Vets hoisting banners emblazoned: BENEFITS NOT BULLSHIT!

Black and Brown bus drivers spontaneously step from lines of
Busses five blocks long.    Will they rediscover superpowers?
Resurrect roles for
Working-class women?                 Trane for General Strikes?

No kings and things
No kissing rings
On bomber wings

No strongman’s strings
No ding-a-lings
Scooped from bullrings

No Kings Day Of Defiance—
Of coalition and alliance—
Revolutionary science …

Will rally-goers remember falling in behind
Dems causes serious injury? Causes death?
Or will marchers muscle up for mission creep—
Rebuild dream muscles for movements militant, robust—
Numbers scaled up from mobilizing angry millions for:

Monthly

NO KING DAYS—

Weekly

NO KING DAYS—

Daily

NO KING DAYS

Forever

NO KING DAYS?

© 2025. 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.

protest
Donald Trump
Democrats
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

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Shutdown and Neverending Hostility to the Welfare State
29 October 2025
The federal government shutdown is a fight between Trump and democrats, but it is also emblematic of the tenuous nature of the welfar
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Hourly, Hate America Rallies Stampede Through heads of Cruel Reich Cultists
29 October 2025
“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and 
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
No Kings and the Lure of Spectacle
22 October 2025
The most recent No Kings march will hopefully be the last.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Did you see an infantile, juvenile flight of fancy?
22 October 2025
Did you see signs by victims of One Big Beautiful Bank JobShowing up in mighty millions, Flexing Power Of The People?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
End the Epstein shutdown and F-bombing our cities!
15 October 2025
Amassed millions call: END THE EPSTEIN SHUTDOWN!Survivors and supporters shout at stadium level decibels:
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Trump Declares War on the U.S.
01 October 2025
Donald Trump has declared war on the “enemy within” and put the military on notice that they will mete out the same treatment domesti
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Trump and Democrats Fuel the Washington DC Crime Panic
13 August 2025
Donald Trump’s takeover of the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department is not merely a result of his racist and authoritarian
Black Alliance For Peace
End the Colonial Occupation of Washington D.C.: The People Demand Self-Determination and Self-Governance
13 August 2025
Washington, D.C.'s political subjugation exposes America's democratic facade. While claiming to champion self-rule globally, the U.S.
Jon Jeter
Stagflation Returns, Shining a Spotlight on the Federal Reserve’s War on the Working Class
06 August 2025
History exposes the Fed's inflation fight for what it truly is: a decades-long class war waged against working people under the guise of moneta
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Obama Colluded with the Surveillance State Against Trump
30 July 2025
It is true that Barack Obama used the surveillance state apparatus in an effort to undermine the first Donald Trump administration with the Rus

More Stories


  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Use and Abuse of the Genocide Convention
    05 Nov 2025
    Genocide crime, as defined by the UN Convention on Genocide, is sadly common. When does the world decide to respond? 
  • Mosaab Baba
    Sudan: Africa's Regional Neo-Colonial War
    05 Nov 2025
    The conflict in Sudan is a neo-colonial takeover, with United States ally the UAE using a proxy force to exploit that nation for its resources and strategic position.
  • Tunde Osazua
    Nigeria in the Crosshairs: Separating Fact from Fiction in the Looming Crisis
    05 Nov 2025
    The threat of U.S. military action in Nigeria has little to do with protecting Christians and everything to do with domestic U.S. politics and international political games. The "genocide" claim…
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Basis for Climate and Environmental Liberation
    05 Nov 2025
    A movement born from radical action now risks being defanged by racism and elite capture. As the climate crisis continues to grow, the only viable path is a radical struggle for climate and…
  • Kwabena Dennot Nyack
    Grenada – Forward Ever: The Caribbean as a Zone of Peace
    05 Nov 2025
    Grenada's revolution was a brief and brilliant moment that was undone by errors and U.S. intervention. Its legacy must be remembered as the U.S. continues to violate the sovereignty of nations in the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us