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


  • BAR Book Forum: Dylan Rodriguez’s Book, “White Reconstruction”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Dylan Rodriguez’s Book, “White Reconstruction”
    19 Jan 2022
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    “Pan African Solidarity is Key to Fighting Against Western Dominances”: An Interview with Kamau Franklin of Community Movement Builders
    19 Jan 2022
    The first year of the Biden presidency proceeds as one would expect from a man who always represented the most retrograde wing of the democratic party.
  • The Annual Resurrection of a Fake Dr. King and Re-entombment of the Black Liberation Movement
    Black Alliance For Peace
    The Annual Resurrection of a Fake Dr. King and Re-entombment of the Black Liberation Movement
    19 Jan 2022
    Black Alliance for Peace reminds us that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the product of a mass movement and at the time of his assassination was following the Black radical tradition.
  • Against the “Triple Evils”: The Biden Administration’s Affront to Dr. King’s Legacy
    Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
    Against the “Triple Evils”: The Biden Administration’s Affront to Dr. King’s Legacy
    19 Jan 2022
    Joe Biden and other politicians may evoke Dr. King's legacy but their actions are an affront.
  • Biden-Harris and the Never-Ending Commitment to War and Terror
    Salifu Mack , Erica Caines
    Biden-Harris and the Never-Ending Commitment to War and Terror
    19 Jan 2022
    Imperialism is the order of the day for Biden and Harris. There is no harm reduction for the U.S. or for people around the world.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us