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

Leaders I lost— SORRY I LOST…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
20 Aug 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

My leaders were chased

To China, Tanzania, Cuba and

France by lynch mobs and

Death squads posing as public servants—

I LOST

 

Leaders I lost— SORRY I LOST…

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

I.

Even in August’s sauna,

Leaders of the Cristal,

Judas Quisling class

Have it made in the shade!

 

When the Unca Jims,

Jealousies, Andy Tongues,

Slutty Professors, and

Other muleheads who

Savor the flavor

Of leather, gather

At the feet of the

Great Emancipator,

Huffin’ and puffin’

‘Bout recent wrongs—

Same ol’ songs— sanitizing

The ‘60s, hiding worn

Harnesses to the mule;

Thank gawd almighty they’ve

Overcome tall principles,

Steep integrity and

Truth-telling decades ago—

Dumping on Dr King

For Burger King, Ronald Mc Donald,

Colonel Sanders, Popeye’s, liquor

Franchises and sub-contracts,

Rapprochement with Reaganite reaction paid

 

II.

My leaders were voted

Out of office in penitentiary

Yards, Lorraine balcony, Audubon

Ballroom, bedroom-voting booths—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

My leaders were chased

To China, Tanzania, Cuba and

France by lynch mobs and

Death squads posing as public servants—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders had hearts

Of Harriet, Toussaint and Nat;

Spines of Sitting Bull, Dessalines and

Osceola; tongues of Truth, Douglass and

Harrison; pens of Wells, Walker and

Garrison, strip searches, x-rays and

Metal detectors don’t detect—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders sprouted up

From Strange Fruit-fertilized

Black soil saturated by fire

Hoses and spittle of Strom, Bull,

Lester, Hoover bloodhounds and

Other Amerikkkan apartheid actors—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders first served, and

Later, hanging judges, not chads

Confirmed them in “superior” courts

Inaugurating them with more boots

Batons, bullets, mud-slinging and

Negative campaigning, COINTELPRO-style—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders were elected

To 4x9, windowless offices

Open twenty-four, seven,

Three hundred -sixty-five

Days a year, 3, 4 even 5 decades—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders have #s

Like 09-A3775 and 77A4283

I can’t call when I wake up

In a cold sweat, screaming—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

My leaders make less

Than a dollar a day

And ain’t Rollex-models

Rollin’ somethin’ shiny and German

With ALEC’s hand up

Their asses, making their

Mouths move every 2-4 years

With promises, promises, promises,

Promises only fools and babies believe—

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

I LOST— SORRY I LOST…

 

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


  • Neo-Colonialism, International Finance Capital and the Necessity of Pan-African Sovereignty
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Neo-Colonialism, International Finance Capital and the Necessity of Pan-African Sovereignty
    02 Nov 2022
    African Union member-states are facing a critical conjuncture as the looming threats of global conflict against imperialism threatens world peace.
  • The Brazilian Army in Haiti – Foreign Intervention and Domestic Politics
    Federico Neiburg
    The Brazilian Army in Haiti – Foreign Intervention and Domestic Politics
    02 Nov 2022
    The recent re-election of Lula da Silva to the Brazilian presidency is a reminder of the role that he played in the occupation of Haiti. The Brazilian military took the lead in the occupation…
  • Forced Labor in the Dominican Sugar Industry: A State Crime
    Socialist Workers Movement of the Dominican Republic
    Forced Labor in the Dominican Sugar Industry: A State Crime
    02 Nov 2022
    The US is complicit in allowing inhumane practices, including forced labor and wage theft among Haitian sugar industry workers in the Dominican Republic.
  • The Unbalanced Scales of International Criminal Justice
    Robin Philpot
    The Unbalanced Scales of International Criminal Justice
    02 Nov 2022
    The current calls to indict Russian authorities and citizens resemble what NATO did in 2011 to Libya and Muammar Gaddafi.
  • Black Agenda Radio October 28, 2022
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Black Agenda Radio October 28, 2022
    28 Oct 2022
    The white warlords of Haiti and their role in destabilizing their country Part 2, the white nationalist American Renaissance Conference will take place in Tennessee, and Dr. Gerald Horne discusses…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us