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

The Unemployment Question(s)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Feb 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Livin’ on nothin’, while hunger works full time

No wonder, some brothers stumble into crime.

 

The Unemployment Question(s)

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

Licking bitter flaps on unemployment envelopes

somewhere under the rainbow

Lies

true hues

in bright Red,

Black

and dark Blues:

 

Drawin’ unemployment’s like drawin’ straws

Drawin’ unemployment’s like drawin’ straws

We come up short under rich folks’ laws.

 

Livin’ on nothin’, while hunger works full time

Livin’ on nothin’, while hunger works full time

No wonder, some brothers stumble into crime.

 

And the rich cry, “...crime, crime, crime” every day

And the rich cry, “...crime, crime, crime” every day

While cocaine’s trafficked by the C-I-A.

 

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

Stack-o-papers to fill out, askin’ dumb shit!

 

“State here the reason you’re out of work.”

“Answer the following then report to the clerk.”

“Will you accept work in your usual trade?”

“What’s your income with benefits paid?”

“Do you own a farm, or a ranch?”

“Do you have a savings? What branch?”

“Did you look for work all this past week?”

“Where did you go, with whom did you speak?”

“Are you a citizen of the U.S.?”

“If answering ‘No’, then why not ‘Yes’?”

“Have a seat and wait to be seen”

“Any questions about what we mean?”

“Anyone in line who voluntarily quit?”

“Step out — go over there and sit”

“Sorry, you can’t be seen until ten —”

 

“Provided, you fill this out for WIN...”

 

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

We been slavin’ fo’ the mastahs and what we git?

Appointment

with

revolution

When we fit…

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 1986 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


  • Jacqueline Luqman
    Continuity of Social Control From Slave Patrols To Policing To ICE
    28 Jan 2026
    To understand the violence of contemporary immigration enforcement, one must trace its lineage directly to the antebellum slave patrols — a system founded on racial terror and complete state control.
  • Aby L. Sène
    Patagonia Forest Fires Reveal Imperialist Theft of Protected Lands
    28 Jan 2026
    The arson attacks that engulfed the protected forests of he Andean-Patagonia region serve as a reminder that Western conservation models, which dispossess Indigenous peoples of their lands, are…
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Trump Derangement Syndrome Is Real, And It Obfuscates the Requisite Question of Self-Determination in the Heart of U.S. Empire
    28 Jan 2026
    When political energy is channeled into opposing an individual, that energy is diverted from the work of building the popular power needed to challenge the empire he represents.
  • Hanna Eid
    Iran and the Strategy of Tension
    28 Jan 2026
    The Cold War-era "strategy of tension" has evolved into a modern system of hybrid warfare targeting sovereign nations that challenge Western hegemony.
  • Julia Wright
    The Photos of a Five Year Old ICE Terror Doesn't Want Us to See
    28 Jan 2026
    The arrest of a five-year-old captured public attention and ignited a prisoner revolt inside a U.S. ICE detention center. Powerful imagery is a useful tool for the people, but dangerous in the hands…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us