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

Amiri made me think…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Feb 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

What muthafracker would

Bomb the Motherland and

Call it humanitarian? Mc Cain?

 

Amiri made me think…

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

I.

Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh…

Calling all Africans

All Africans

Africans

Africans

All humanity, anyone human, humane

Calling all Africans

All Africans

Africans

Africans

Continental and Diasporic—

Flaunt dense temporal

Lobes, clutch elephant

Memories in the

Age of…Austerity

Age of…Alzheimer’s

Political dementia!

 

Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh…

Calling all Africans

All Africans

Africans

Africans

Clutch memories of the

Pyramid scheme that

Kidnapped and brought us here

It rattles in its death

Throes and must be buried

 

Remember when we

Were light workers,

Sentinels of light,

Righteous star seeders

Helping bring it down?

 

Emit infrasounds if

You hear me when I

Say this muthafracker’s

A marathon—not a sprint—

An inevitable struggle

For socialism, no speed-

Bump, Iceberg Slim or

Supposed third road can stop,

Amiri made me think…

 

II.

Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh…

Calling all Negroz

Mentally ill— fidgety,

Flighty, dialed into dumb shit

Losing all ability

To analyze, THINK

Independently, carry

On conversations,

Respond to the environment

 

Yeah, there’s power in

The Now, but memory

Peels cataracts from

Third eyes, so we peer

Into futures free of fractured

Spirits, cupped hands, crimson

Streets and filthy rivers…

Amiri made me think

 

III.

Amiri made me think

What muthafracker would

Bomb the Motherland and

Call it humanitarian? Mc Cain?

 

Which one could turn the

Earthquake in Haiti

Into military operations,

The buzzards’ banquet for

Disaster capitalists? Buffett?

 

Which one would invite

Another brother for beer

With his arresting officer,

Clarence Thomas? Shaq?

 

Which muthafracker

Could march on Morehouse

Give a“Niggeraintshit!”

Commencement address &

Get a standing ovation?

Rush? O’Reilly? Hannity?

 

Which one would watch BP

Blow up the Macondo Well,

Kill eleven workers,

Millions of mussels, shrimp,

Crabs, sea turtles and birds &

Call it the Big Bank Theory/

Too Big To Jail? Bush? Palin?

 

Heard this PhD professor proclaim:

It’s the complexitiesandnuancesofthepracticalapplicationofthehistorical

ContinuationofpostracialimperialisttesticularprowessofpaxAmericana—

Anyway, an unlettered, low-life,

Like me wouldn’t understand,

So he “unpacked” it of bovine odor,

Broke it down into laymen’s language

Like The “Wink-wink, Nod-nod strategy—”

In other words, Iceberg Slim bombed Africa

Wink-wink, Nod-nod, to fool white folks

That way, it don’t look like he playin’ favorites,

But, soon as he free from them Repubicans and

Outta office and set up his foundation he be

Free to give Africa all the aid it need…

 

Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh…

Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh… Errrrrrh…

Amiri made me think—

Marx & Lenin let me look…

 

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


  • The Supreme Court Will Rule on Moore v. Harper
    Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Supreme Court Will Rule on Moore v. Harper
    16 Dec 2022
    The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Moore v. Harper, a case brought by North Carolina legislators who argue for the discredited “independent state legislature” theory. Eliza Sweren-Becker…
  • Brittney Griner and the U.S. State
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Brittney Griner and the U.S. State
    14 Dec 2022
    Brittney Griner's ordeal in Russia is over. But she has been secreted away for "reintegration" and the U.S. continues its own brand of international hostage taking.
  • ESSAY: Negroes Speak of War, Langston Hughes, 1933
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Negroes Speak of War, Langston Hughes, 1933
    14 Dec 2022
    What benefits do Black folk get by endorsing or participating in the white man’s war? Revisiting an anti-war statement by Langston Hughes.
  • On International Human Rights Day: Money for Ukraine and War But Austerity for the People
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    On International Human Rights Day: Money for Ukraine and War But Austerity for the People
    14 Dec 2022
    The U.S. does not respect the right to health care, housing, employment, or education while making war on the rest of the world. What does the idea of human rights amount to in this country?
  • Ghost Stories of Capitalism: Racism is REAL, and It’s a Class Struggle
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ghost Stories of Capitalism: Racism is REAL, and It’s a Class Struggle
    14 Dec 2022
    From culture wars to identity politics, it's easy to get sucked into toxic rhetoric and forget the reality of racism staring the US in the face.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us