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


  • Zionism and Global African Studies
    Samar Al-Bulushi, Peter James Hudson, Zachary Mondesire, Corinna Mullin, Jemima Pierre
    Zionism and Global African Studies
    24 Jul 2019
    Delegates to a conference on Global Africa at Oxford University say Zionists and their apologists are targeting the academy.
  • Black Masculinity Under Racial Capitalism
    Jordanna Matlon
    Black Masculinity Under Racial Capitalism
    24 Jul 2019
    A truly radical counterhegemony can only be realized by disassociating both blackness and manhood from capitalist registers of worth.
  • Victory for DC Tenants in Catholic Church-Owned Buildings
    Yasmina Mrabet
    Victory for DC Tenants in Catholic Church-Owned Buildings
    24 Jul 2019
    Tenants fight back and win in the city with the nation’s highest rate of gentrification, by far.
  • The Lasalin Massacre and the Human Rights Crisis in Haiti
    Seth Donnelly and Judith Mirkinson
    The Lasalin Massacre and the Human Rights Crisis in Haiti
    24 Jul 2019
    The Lasalin massacre was designed to punish and destroy a neighborhood long known as a stronghold of the grassroots opposition.
  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of July 22, 2019
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of July 22, 2019
    23 Jul 2019
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of July 22, 2019 Reparations Demand: End Capitalism
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us