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


  • Ocasio-Cortez’s Tweet to McCain means she IS a Democrat and ISN’T a Socialist
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    Ocasio-Cortez’s Tweet to McCain means she IS a Democrat and ISN’T a Socialist
    12 Sep 2018
    It should be all too clear by now that the “Resistance” to Donald Trump within the US power structure is just a public relations stunt to sow popular consensus for war.
  • First They Came for Alex Jones, then RT and Syrian TV
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    First They Came for Alex Jones, then RT and Syrian TV
    12 Sep 2018
    Russian and Syrian news services in the US have been censored, but you can still get streaming jihadist propaganda from al Qaeda-controlled Idlib Province.
  • Censored Documentary Exposes Israel’s Attack on Black Lives Matter
    Max Blumenthal
    Censored Documentary Exposes Israel’s Attack on Black Lives Matter
    12 Sep 2018
    Israeli operatives and their US lobbyists sprang into action when the Movement for Black Lives came out in support of the boycott Israel movement.
  • New Film Reveals Life of Civil Rights Activist Jack O’Dell
    Paul Buhle
    New Film Reveals Life of Civil Rights Activist Jack O’Dell
    12 Sep 2018
    Nobody was a bigger influence on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. than Jack O’Dell, the communist -- which is why O’Dell had to be jettisoned.
  • BAR Book Forum: Jeanne Theoharis’ “A More Beautiful and Terrible History”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Jeanne Theoharis’ “A More Beautiful and Terrible History”
    12 Sep 2018
    Today’s seekers of social justice need to grapple with what the legacies of past freedom fighters actually demand of us.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us