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


  • Amidst the Biden Administration’s Forever-Wars Policy in Africa, BAP Launches a Month of Action Against AFRICOM (U.S. Africa Command)
    Black Alliance For Peace
    Amidst the Biden Administration’s Forever-Wars Policy in Africa, BAP Launches a Month of Action Against AFRICOM (U.S. Africa Command)
    21 Sep 2022
    The Black Alliance for Peace hosts a Month of Action Against the US Africa Command, AFRICOM, every October. AFRICOM continues to play a dangerous role in enforcing US foreign policy that is…
  • COP27 to be Held in Egypt amid Global Challenges
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    COP27 to be Held in Egypt amid Global Challenges
    21 Sep 2022
    African nations and other developing regions are facing greater economic turmoil as extreme weather events, imperialist war and capitalist exploitation continue to damage the planet. The next United…
  • Life Expectancy: The US and Cuba in the Time of Covid
    Don Fitz
    Life Expectancy: The US and Cuba in the Time of Covid
    21 Sep 2022
    The profitmaking health care system in the U.S. does not correlate with good outcomes. Socialist Cuba struggles under U.S. sanctions, yet it now outperforms the U.S. in life expectancy.
  • Hard Stop: On Seeking Justice for Chris Kaba
    Michael Richmond, Alex Charnley
    Hard Stop: On Seeking Justice for Chris Kaba
    21 Sep 2022
    The U.S. isn't the only country where police shootings of Black people are common. Chris Kaba is the latest victim of what UK police call a "hard stop."
  • Oil Palm Plantations and Water Grabbing: Ivory Coast and Gabon
    World Rainforest Movement
    Oil Palm Plantations and Water Grabbing: Ivory Coast and Gabon
    21 Sep 2022
    Industrial palm oil production in West and Central Africa is mainly controlled by five multinational corporations and could continue expansion. Plantations take up large tracts of land. Land and…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us