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

12th Man
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
11 Feb 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Where’s The 12th Man—

All 137.6 decibels—

For Mumia and Maroon?

 

12th Man

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

From “Yes, we can” to The 12th Man

The 1%’s calling all the power plays—

Bootlegging, blitzing, sacking our daze…

 

Sunday we sat slurping beer,

Gobbling pizza and buckets

Of chicken like madmen, ‘til

Heartburn and boredom set

In, ‘til The Questions came

Whizzing past like pockets full

Of cherry red challenge flags:

 

Where was The 12th Man

Shrieking, screaming, loud

As an Aircraft carrier’s flight

Deck for Marilyn Buck?

 

Where was The 12th Man

Shouting full-throated,

Loud as Apache and

Blackhawk Helicopters

For Herman Wallace?

 

Where’s The 12th Man—

All 137.6 decibels—

For Mumia and Maroon?

 

Where’s The 12th Man—

Bursting eardrums for

Whistleblowers Manning,

Snowden and Assange?

 

Where’s the quarterback,

The field general, that

Comes up to the line

Barking: ANGOLA

ATTICA #77A4283

CUT-CUT-CUT?

 

Where’s the coach that

Will argue over calls like

Leonard Peltier? Or Hugo

Pinell and Albert Woodfox—

Four decades in bathroom-

Sized, windowless, torture

Chambers, cut off from fresh

Air, sunlight, Vitamin D

22-24 hours a day? Cruel,

Slow deaths, strip sacking

Spirits, bodies and minds of>

Political prisoners & prisoners

Of war who, game faces on

Against water hoses, cattle

prods, German shepherds,

Bullets and buckshot,

Took the field for us all

 

Quadruple, triple, double

Overtime, or sudden death,

This game’s been going

On too long—

Where’s the Terrible

Towels, the Lambeau Leap

Where’s the raucous carrying

On in the Dog Pound, boisterous

Behavior in the Black Hole, where’s

The Wall of Fame, Ring of Honor

Where’s The 12th Man for our

Political prisoners & prisoners of war?

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2014 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


  • Black Alliance For Peace
    The Meaning of October 7th: An Oppressed People Will Always Find a Way to Resist Oppression
    09 Oct 2024
    Black Alliance for Peace will never abandon the Rights of Palestinian People to Resist Zionist Colonialism “By Any Means Necessary”
  • Orisanmi Burton
    An open letter to prison officials on the censorship of Tip of the Spear
    09 Oct 2024
    Orisanmi Birton's groundbreaking book, Tip of the Spear, has been listed as contraband in prisons across the country, not only preventing incarcerated people from accessing the book but punishing…
  • Kit Klarenburg
    Gilbert Bigio: Israel's Man in Haiti and the Architect Behind the US Migrant Crisis
    09 Oct 2024
    Billionaire oligarch Gilbert Bigio, is well know as one of the forces of influence that allow for shipments of arms to enter the country, provide cover for the western-backed gangs, and…
  • Max Ajl
    Dismantling Green Colonialism: Stages of a Just Transition?
    09 Oct 2024
    Dismantling Green Colonialism: Energy and Climate Justice in the Arab Region has received much critical acclaim since its publication with Pluto Press in October 2023. Here, while acknowledging…
  • Recognized Movement
    Open letter to President Abinader: We call for compliance with the Constitution and an end to denationalization and racial discrimination
    09 Oct 2024
    September marked eleven years since the Dominican Republic passed the law that revoked the citizenship of millions of Dominican people with Haitian heritage. The government still maintains that the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us