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


  • Black Agenda Report’s 13th Anniversary: An Evening of Information and Inspiration for Liberation, and a Tribute to Co-Founder Bruce Dixon
    BAR staff
    Black Agenda Report’s 13th Anniversary: An Evening of Information and Inspiration for Liberation, and a Tribute to Co-Founder Bruce Dixon
    25 Sep 2019
    Black Agenda Report’s 13th Anniversary: An Evening of Information and Inspiration for Liberation, and a Tribute to Co-Founder Bruce Dixon
  • 2016 Revisited: Electronic Balloting Favored Clinton, Paper Balloting Sanders
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    2016 Revisited: Electronic Balloting Favored Clinton, Paper Balloting Sanders
    25 Sep 2019
    Investigators call it “strange patterns in data”— that saw Hillary Clinton win primaries with electronic ballots, and Bernie Sanders victorious in paper ballot states.
  • Save the Children..from maturity
    BAR Poet-in-Resident Raymond Nat Turner
    Save the Children..from maturity
    25 Sep 2019
    Why do I cry when I see sixteen year-olds Fearless and wise beyond their years, wielding swords of science—slaying share-  holders’ senators and clean-coal 
  • BAR Book Forum: Rinaldo Walcott and Idil Abdillahi’s “BlackLife”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Rinaldo Walcott and Idil Abdillahi’s “BlackLife”
    25 Sep 2019
    The book seeks to unmake the idea that Black people in Canada occupy some “special” place in diaspora.
  • BAR Book Forum: Stephen Gowans’ “Washington’s Long War on Syria”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Stephen Gowans’ “Washington’s Long War on Syria”
    25 Sep 2019
    Three hostile foreign powers—Israel, Turkey and the United States—occupy parts of Syria in defiance of international law.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us