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
  • omnibus

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


  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio April 4, 2025
    04 Apr 2025
    In this week’s segment we discuss Secretary of State Rubio’s visit to Guyana and other nations, and U.S. efforts to control resources and interfere in the Caribbean region.
  • M23
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Rwanda Continues Congo Invasion, Congo Seeks U.S. Protection
    04 Apr 2025
    Maurice Carney is the Executive Director of Friends of the Congo. He joins us from Washington to discuss the ongoing crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda’s continued intervention…
  • Marco Rubio in Guyana
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Marco Rubio Targets Guyana and the Caribbean Region
    04 Apr 2025
    Gerald Perreira is the chairperson of the Organization for the Victory of the People in Guyana. He joins us from Guyana to discuss U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent trip to Guyana,…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Trump Exposes the Elite Classes
    02 Apr 2025
    While Trump dedicates himself to making every conservative fantasy come true, millions wonder who will save them from the onslaught of the right wing fever dream. The answer is no one but ourselves.…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Armed Struggle: Natural Response to Fascism, Martin Sostre, 1975
    02 Apr 2025
    “The question now is: What are we going to do about this murderous fascism?”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us