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

Birmingham On The Hudson
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 Aug 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

by Raymond Nat Turner

“Another generation of Gordon Gekkos

Parasitic, psycho, thug CEOs

Funny money men, where anything goes

Republi-crats and Demo-con echoes”

 

Birmingham On The Hudson

by Raymond Nat Turner

Jazz Ballad Chorus

Headed for CUNY with dreams and hope

'Til gettin' swept up in Rope-and-Grope

Tuggin' down his testes on the street

Body-slammed, cursed and browbeat 

Meeting N-Y's finest's fists and feets

Given blurred vision of hoods and sheets

Bruised, bloodied victim of violent scam--

The Hudson banks on Birmingham

The Hudson banks on Birmingham.... 

Hip Hop Feel

Bull Kelly cut fire hoses and cattle prods

For Glockmiesters runnin' in death squads

Protecting and serving corporate masters

The privilege and supremacy of alabasters 

Guarding Merrill-Lynch and Killer Coke

Fighting crime's mirrors and smoke

Drivin' out the poor from dusk to dark

Like smashing Spring in Zucotti Park

 

After the Schultzes seized Native Land

Manhattan real estate rose in demand

They cashed the stolen land into rent

Maintained violently by the 1%

 

In this Age Of Metastasized Cash-ism

Wall Street's Kleptocratic Stash-ism

Mayor Bilbo's businesses blooming brisk

His real estate-driven Stop-and-Frisk

American-styled apartheid pass law

Bilbo's Gestapo's a blue cat's-paw

 

After the Schultzes seized Native Land

Manhattan real estate rose in demand

They cashed the stolen land into rent

Maintained violently by the 1%

 

Another generation of Gordon Gekkos

Parasitic, psycho, thug CEOs

Funny money men, where anything goes

Republi-crats and Demo-con echoes

Putting our lives and health at risk

Run these cons through Stop-and-Frisk

Provocateurs and pundits in cahoots

Will look hip in orange jumpsuits!

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com.

Raymond Nat Turner (c) 2012 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


  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    For a young labor leader leading by example
    13 Aug 2025
    "For a young labor leader leading by example" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    End the Colonial Occupation of Washington D.C.: The People Demand Self-Determination and Self-Governance
    13 Aug 2025
    Washington, D.C.'s political subjugation exposes America's democratic facade. While claiming to champion self-rule globally, the U.S. increases repression and lays siege on the residents of its own…
  • Matteo Capasso
    The Unraveling: America Against America in the Post-Liberal Moment
    13 Aug 2025
    Fukuyama's 'end of history' was just an excuse for empire that Wang Huning saw through back in 1991. Now, as America's broken system tears itself apart, our job isn't to save it, but to build…
  • Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
    Anatomy of a Red Scare
    13 Aug 2025
    As the Trump administration escalates its anti-radical crackdowns, past moments of repression offer a preview of what’s to come.
  • Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    Independence for Whom? Peruvian People Reject Neocolonial Boluarte Coup Regime
    13 Aug 2025
    Two centuries after independence, Peru remains shackled by empire. As the U.S.-backed Boluarte regime tightens its grip, the people take to the streets, demanding sovereignty, justice, and the return…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us