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

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


  • Sally Nasser
    Organ Theft, Neo-Cannibalism and Israel’s Trade in Palestinian Death
    11 Feb 2026
    Missing organs from Palestinian bodies and a history of organ harvesting without consent make Israel's supposed organ donation record very suspicious. Palestinians are demanding an independent…
  • Navid Farnia , Nina Farnia
    Iran v. US Imperialism: An Interview with Navid Farnia & Nina Farnia
    11 Feb 2026
    A discussion on the protests in Iran, US imperialism, and Iranian resistance.
  • Jody McIntyre
    Morgan McSweeney: the Man Running Britain and His Ties to Israel
    11 Feb 2026
    Morgan McSweeney is an unelected operative steering the British government. His career reveals deep and formative ties to pro-Israel lobbyists and financiers.
  • Al Mayadeen English
    Bessent Admits Engineering Dollar Shortage to Destabilize Iran
    11 Feb 2026
    The US Treasury Secretary admits Washington engineered a dollar shortage in Iran, triggering currency collapse, economic unrest, and foreign-backed riots against that state.
  • Essam Elkorghli
    On the Assassination of Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi: Another Tale of Imperialist Treason
    11 Feb 2026
    The son of President Muammar Qaddaffi, Saif Qaddafi, has been assassinated by local forces, some of whom contributed to the destruction of a flourishing Libya.  A background to the murder and…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us