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

…In his head
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Mar 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Dr. King’s Dream come true,

In his head! Black folks way better

Off, in his head, Rev. Wright was

Wrong, in his head!

 

…In his head

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

Headin’ downtown on the D train

The other day I overheard oration—

By a fella, to a fella, from a fella 51/50

“Mexicans takin’ our jobs; they hate

Our freedoms— but blurred lines,

Beyonce’s booty, NAACP Image

Awards, Robin Thicke & recovery

Jus’ roun’ the corner; smart phone,

Dr. Dre headphones lift me outta

Poverty; smart bombs protect my

Freedoms; I got 2,000 Facebook

Friends, a poke away, who gimme

My kidney & bone marrow transplant!”

 

Booming baritone thundering in

Harmony with the train, he continued

His melodious, rhythmic catechism,

“Since ’08 things been Great,” in his

Head, Dr. King’s Dream come true,

In his head! Black folks way better

Off, in his head, Rev. Wright was

Wrong, in his head! “Yes, we can,”

In his head, mo’ Black folks have

Homes since World War II, in his

Head! Mo’ Black wealth than ever

Before, in his head; fewer Black folk

Dyin’ fo’ they 70th, in his head; mo’

Black men goin’ to college than jail,

In his head, liars figure but figures

Don’t lie, in his head, in his head,

“Change we can believe in,” in his

Head, police stopped shootin’ us

Since that beer, in his head; we

Cool, long as Big Brother brown, in

His head! Oratory swelling like a

Dark cumulus cloud, lookin’ me

Dead in the eye, “This election the

Mos’ important election ever…”

 

“The rich say that every time,” I snapped.

He leapt up like a man possessed, banshee-

Rebel- wailing, “What, you ain’t votin’?

Nigger, get away from me, you is cra-aaa-zy!”

 

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


  • African Peoples Socialist Party Heightens Global Struggle
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    African Peoples Socialist Party Heightens Global Struggle
    27 Jan 2020
    Omali Yeshitela said his African Peoples Socialist Party’s upcoming plenary gathering is designed to “build and strengthen the regional components of our party through the wor
  • Shaky Joe Biden, Billionaire Bloomberg, and the Global Race to the Bottom
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Shaky Joe Biden, Billionaire Bloomberg, and the Global Race to the Bottom
    23 Jan 2020
    Bloomberg has put himself and his fortune into the contest to rally his (ruling) classmates to the task of shoring up corporate control of the Party if Sanders seizes the top spot.
  • Freedom Rider: The Internet Does Washington’s Dirty Work
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: The Internet Does Washington’s Dirty Work
    22 Jan 2020
    As long as the internet is in private hands it should be seen as a “frenemy” -- a useful resource that can also be wielded as a weapon.
  • White Supremacy and War Are Vise Grips Strangling the Working Class: What we Can Learn from China
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    White Supremacy and War Are Vise Grips Strangling the Working Class: What we Can Learn from China
    22 Jan 2020
    The same white supremacist ideology that dehumanizes Black Americans also steers the US Empire’s regime of endless war abroad.
  • The New York Fed’s Financial Stranglehold on Iraq
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    The New York Fed’s Financial Stranglehold on Iraq
    22 Jan 2020
    The US is threatening to seize Iraq’s oil revenues if Baghdad expels American troops.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us