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

What Would the Ancestors Say?
Margaret Kimberley, BAR editor and senior columnist
14 Nov 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

by Raymond Nat Turner

Baptist, baritone strains:

"I've been to the mountaintop,

But this is not the mountaintop”

 

What Would the Ancestors Say?

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

I know

I know

I know...

Harriet Tubman didn't slide

In and out of the slave south

Nineteen times, $40,000 reward

Hanging over her head like a

Scimitar, or Samurai sword;

Medgar didn't die in his driveway

Like a dog put down in the pound;

Malcolm didn't die on floor

Of the Audubon Ballroom;

King didn't die on chitlin' curcuit

Balcony of the Lorraine Motel;

Fred didn't die in his bed, under

Hooves of Chicago death squads

For tomfoolery---nappy-headed

Foolishness--- Negroz shrinking

To plantation Rip Van Winkles

Hung over on Ol' Massa's

Jim Jones Juice (January '09)

The eve of world revolution...

 

I know

I know

I know...

She would be leveling her pistol,

Leaving at least a half dozen dead

Negroz, after commanding "Forward,

Or die!"

 

I know

I know

I know...

He would be tongue-lashing

Negroz with his Harlem-tinged

Tough love: "You've been had,

You've been took, you've been

Hoodwinked, you've been bamboozled!"

 

I know

I know

I know...

He would be intoning in African,

Baptist, baritone strains:

"I've been to the mountaintop,

But this is not the mountaintop,

No, and I'm concerned that if you

Continue traversing this treacherous

Trail you're on, during the dark and

Difficult days ahead, not only will you

Not get to the mountaintop, you will

Find yourselves descending to depths

So low that it will require you taking an

Elevator up eighty-six floors; climbing

Forty flights of stairs to a sub cellar of

Sin, standing on a step ladder on your

Tiptoes, just to suck the Devil's dick---

 

No, I'm afraid I can't be your drum

Major on this one---

The drones must be stopped,

The satanic wars ceased, and

The barbaric killing of other peoples'

Babies ended---forever..."

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


  • Summit of the Americas Flops While Workers Summit of the Americas Exposes Cracks in the Imperial Façade
    Roger D. Harris
    Summit of the Americas Flops While Workers Summit Exposes Cracks in the Imperial Façade
    22 Jun 2022
    The U.S. effort to exert control at Summit of the Americas failed spectacularly. The Workers Summit of the Americas in Tijuana, Mexico showed the strength of people's movements around the world.
  • Warriors we are…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Warriors we are…
    22 Jun 2022
                                                           …
  • The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign & Black Alliance for Peace Center Opposition to War
    Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign/POOR PEOPLE’S ARMY
    The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign & Black Alliance for Peace Center Opposition to War
    22 Jun 2022
    As groups prepared to gather in Washington D.C. to discuss poverty, the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign and Black Alliance for Peace say that in the spirit of Dr. King, opposition…
  • Why Does the United States Have a Military Base in Ghana?
    Vijay Prashad
    Why Does the United States Have a Military Base in Ghana?
    22 Jun 2022
    Why would the government of Ghana allow a U.S. military base on its territory? Kwesi Pratt Jr., a journalist and leader of the Socialist Movement of Ghana explains.
  • Hubert Harrison, Tribune of the People: Part Three, The Struggle for Equality
    Sean I. Ahern
    Hubert Harrison, Tribune of the People: Part Three, The Struggle for Equality
    22 Jun 2022
    Hubert Henry Harrison was one of the foremost Black socialist and nationalist thinkers of the early 20th century. He was known as "the father of Harlem radicalism." This is the last of a three-…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us