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

Light Up In Harlem
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
29 Oct 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner

Commemorating

Beyond Vietnam,

Celebrating

Grassroots pregnant with

Struggle

 

Light up in Harlem

by BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner

(BAR 7th Anniversary Celebration)

“Over truth there is light” – Moroccan saying

 

Friday night and a

Light burns bright

Up here in Harlem—

Bright like LED smiles

Of Douglass, Delaney

Walker, Cornish and Ida B.

We’re that light tonight…

 

We’re that light tonight,

Illumination

Lineage of tens of

Of thousands of torchbearers

Dealing Defenders,

Dispatches, Eagles,

Afro-Americans,

Mysteries, North Stars,

Freedom Journals, New York

Globes, Boston Guardians and

Memphis Free Speech & Headlights

 

We’re that light tonight…

 

We’re that light tonight,

Back at Riverside

Commemorating

Beyond Vietnam,

Celebrating

Grassroots pregnant with

Struggle birthing the

March on Washington

We’re that light tonight…

 

We’re that light tonight,

Not neon soldiers

Of Fortune 500

Foundation followers

Mumbling mule madness

We’re that light tonight…

 

We’re that light tonight

Streaming from Philly,

Connecticut, Jersey,

Filtering in from

Atlanta, Massachusetts,

Parts west, popping corks

On Champagne and wines

Red and white, toasting

Truth telling, illuminating

The people, instead of

“Speaking truth to power,”

Under Bill Clinton’s

Desk, like chittlin-breath

Buffoons are prone to do…

We’re the light tonight!

 

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


  • US Threatens Ethiopia and Eritrea with “Genocide Designation”
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    US Threatens Ethiopia and Eritrea with “Genocide Designation”
    10 Aug 2022
    Ann Garrison was invited to address the annual Eritrean Festival, which was held in Dallas. These are her remarks.
  • We Don't Need No Stinkin' Harvard: Why the Crew, and not the Captain, Will Save America
    Jon Jeter
    We Don't Need No Stinkin' Harvard: Why the Crew, and not the Captain, Will Save America
    10 Aug 2022
    The elites who control international finance are the best educated people in the world. They are also the most dangerous and have inflicted the most harm.
  • Black August Builds on Our Black Radical Traditions
    Charles Brooks
    Black August Builds on Our Black Radical Traditions
    10 Aug 2022
    Black August is the commemoration of actions carried out by revolutionaries ranging from Nat Turner to George Jackson. It is a month to "study, fast, train, and fight" to build the Black radical…
  • BAR Book Forum: Maboula Soumahoro’s “Black is the Journey, Africana the Name”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Maboula Soumahoro’s “Black is the Journey, Africana the Name”
    10 Aug 2022
    This week’s featured author is Maboula Soumahoro. Soumahoro is Associate Professor in the English department of the University of Tours. Her book is Black is the Journey, Africana the Name.
  • BAR Book Forum: Jesse Olsavsky’s Book, “The Most Absolute Abolition”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Jesse Olsavsky’s Book, “The Most Absolute Abolition”
    10 Aug 2022
    This week’s featured author is Jesse Olsavsky. Olsavsky is Assistant Professor of History at Duke Kunshan University in China.. His book is The Most Absolute Abolition: Runaways, Vigilance Committees…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us