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


  • Farewell, Senior Brother: In Memory of Kevin Alexander Gray
    Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
    Farewell, Senior Brother: In Memory of Kevin Alexander Gray
    15 Mar 2023
    Kevin Alexander Gray was a contributor and good friend to the Black Agenda Report team. His passing is a huge loss to BAR, and to the Black liberation movement. 
  • China, Covid Origins, and War Propaganda
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    China, Covid Origins, and War Propaganda
    15 Mar 2023
    A human cause of covid-19 is possible, but anti-China rhetoric is war propaganda, not scientific evidence.
  • INTERVIEW: A Talk with Sylvia Woods, 1974
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: A Talk with Sylvia Woods, 1974
    15 Mar 2023
    An inspiring interview with Sylvia Woods highlights the role of Black women in labor organizing and demonstrates that Black women should always be at the forefront.
  • On the Twentieth Anniversary of Invasion of Iraq It Must Be Clear: The U.S. is the Greatest Threat To World Peace and Collective Humanity
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    On the Twentieth Anniversary of Invasion of Iraq It Must Be Clear: The U.S. is the Greatest Threat To World Peace and Collective Humanity
    15 Mar 2023
    History teaches that the greatest threat to peace today is the United States. No other nation creates dangers as great as those emanating from the U.S. commitment to the doctrine of Full…
  • Forever Wars vs. Armageddon
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Forever Wars vs. Armageddon
    15 Mar 2023
    The call for the U.S. to end military involvements is often made in order to advocate for new wars against more powerful countries. It appears that the only choices are forever wars or the end of the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us