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


  • Teaching Politically and the Problem of Afropessimism
    Nino Brown, Derek Ford
    Teaching Politically and the Problem of Afropessimism
    29 Sep 2021
    The authors argue that the theory of Afropessism is antithetical to the development of political movements.
  • Tunde Ozasua
    Building the Movement to Shut Down AFRICOM
    29 Sep 2021
    October 2021 is the 13th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM.
  • The newly created AUKUS alliance is the latest futile effort to end China's rise as an economic super power and competitor for global influence.
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Revenge of White Colonialism Motivates the AUKUS Alliance Against China
    29 Sep 2021
    The newly created AUKUS alliance is the latest futile effort to end China's rise as an economic super power and competitor for global influence.
  • U.S. Congress Outlines New Phase of Economic Attacks and Hybrid War on Nicaragua’s Sandinista Government
    Ben Norton
    U.S. Congress Outlines New Phase of Economic Attacks and Hybrid War on Nicaragua’s Sandinista Government
    29 Sep 2021
    The US Congress invited neoconservative regime-change strategists to discuss the next stage of hybrid warfare on Nicaragua’s Sandinista government.
  • Frantz Fanon
    David Marriott
    BAR Book Forum: David Marriott’s “Whither Fanon?”
    28 Sep 2021
    BAR Book Forum: David Marriott’s “Whither Fanon?” David Marriott
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us