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


  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    DUI Hire
    10 Dec 2025
    "DUI Hire" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Afro-Venezuelan Organizations Network , Regional Articulation of Afrodescendants of Latin America and the Caribbean
    Afrodescendants: Casting Off Illusions, Preparing For Struggle
    10 Dec 2025
    Drawing on a history of resistance, Afro-Venezuelan organizations are mobilizing their communities to meet the threat of military action by the Trump administration and calling on the people of the U…
  • James Bovard
    Obama’s PowerPoint Death Parade Led to Trump’s Venezuelan Killings
    10 Dec 2025
    The legal framework for Trump’s war on Venezuela was built by his predecessor, Barack Obama. His remote-control assassinations set a precedent that Trump adopted and escalated.
  • Ken Klippenstein
    FBI Making List of American “Extremists,” Leaked Memo Reveals
    10 Dec 2025
    A leaked FBI memo confirms the bureau's goal is the criminalization of leftist political activity.
  • John Perry
    Trump’s Interference Invalidates the Presidential Election in Honduras
    10 Dec 2025
    Trump's active and very public intervention in the Honduras election invalidated the results.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us