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


  • I AM FOR THE RIGHT TO BE FREE!!!!
    Shaka Shakur
    I AM FOR THE RIGHT TO BE FREE!!!!
    05 Apr 2023
    Shaka Shakur is a revolutionary New Afrikan prisoner who has spent the past two decades incarcerated by the Indiana Department of Corrections on trumped up charges. He has consistently been targeted…
  • The Need for Independent Left Leadership
    Sudip Bhattacharya
    The Need for Independent Left Leadership
    05 Apr 2023
    Leftists in the U.S. must forge independent formations. Electoral politics are still a dead end.
  • Judge Clemons Denies a New Trial for Mumia Abu Jamal
    Noelle Hanrahan
    Judge Clemons Denies a New Trial for Mumia Abu Jamal
    05 Apr 2023
    A judge denied political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal a new trial, and in so doing denies prosecutorial misconduct, suborning of perjury, and other wrongdoing committed against him. 
  • Communism, Islam, & Serving Our Neighbors
    D. Musa Springer
    Communism, Islam, & Serving Our Neighbors
    05 Apr 2023
    There are connections between spiritual and political beliefs. The writer advises, "...consider the synergy between the principles of our faith and the revolutionary spirit of communism."
  • TikTok on Trial: The Latest Front in the U.S. Tech War on China
    Amanda Yee
    TikTok on Trial: The Latest Front in the U.S. Tech War on China
    05 Apr 2023
    The U.S. engages in a futile effort to diminish China's economic prowess. The propaganda war against Tik Tok is the latest salvo, and concerns about data privacy are misdirection intended to help U.S…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us