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 The Left Left At O’Hare
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 Jun 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

To fly the friendly skies of the National Security State, one must first be prepared to jettison all leftist baggage.

 

What The Left Left At O’Hare

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

I recall, it was like TSA had groped,

Probed and lightened their load:

“You can’t carry independent politics aboard”

“Militant mass-action is forbidden aboard the aircraft”

“Proletarian Internationalism must be dumped out here”

“Revolutionary attitude toward the state is absolutely forbidden beyond the gate!”

“You are allowed to bring aboard:

2oz see-through plastic bottles of social-chauvinism

2 oz plastic bottles of reformism

2 oz plastic bottles of tokenism

Unlimited humanitarian interventions in see through plastic is allowed”

 

Happy campers boarding in ’08,

Gate 1%, O’Hare, via Ronald

Reagan, “the left” powered

Down principles, turned off

Theoretical devices, kept its

Seatbelts buckled low and tight—

Paid high prices for complimentary

Kool Aid, mini-bottles of beer and

Headphones for feature films like

0 Dark 30 looped eight years on

Their non-stop flight—

Making their descent

Three years left in the

Holding pattern, acting as

Floatation devices under one

Seat aboard… Air Force One…

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2013 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


  • Frank Chapman
    How the Enemies of Our Movement Are Using the Kirk Assassination
    24 Sep 2025
    Charlie Kirk's assassination has become the pretext to accelerate a pre-existing fascist agenda, targeting a broad spectrum of forces, from leftist organizers to mainstream institutions.
  • The Cradle News Desk
    Italy Paralyzed as Anti-Genocide Protesters Take the Streets
    24 Sep 2025
    Walkouts in over 60 cities disrupted trains, ports, and schools to protest Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
  • Mafa Kwanisai Mafa
    Venezuela, Imperialism, and the Global Struggle for Sovereignty
    24 Sep 2025
    The ongoing hybrid war against Venezuela exemplifies imperialism’s evolving tactics for regime change used against Global South nations.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe
    Lawsuit Exposes White House Secret Agreement to Deport Migrants to Ghana
    24 Sep 2025
    A fifth African state, the Republic of Ghana, has been subjected to widespread criticism and legal actions for its participation in illegal deportations from the United States.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio September 19, 2025
    20 Sep 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss a new book that analyzes the latest iteration of fascism currently emerging in the United States. But first, we are joined by a journalist and activist who has…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us