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


  • Trump’s Protection Racket Swamps Africa
    Dr. Kweli Nzito
    Trump’s Protection Racket Swamps Africa
    25 Jul 2018
    “Enormous sacrifices made in the protracted and often brutal anti-colonial resistance wars are now coming to naught.”
  • “These Are Not Our Kids”: The Racial Capitalism of Caging Children at the Border
    Salvador Rangel
    “These Are Not Our Kids”: The Racial Capitalism of Caging Children at the Border
    25 Jul 2018
    “The Trump administration takes every opportunity to divert attention from the fact that there are a lot of people suffering in poverty in the richest country in the world.”
  • Black Agenda Radio, Week of July 23, 2018
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio, Week of July 23, 2018
    24 Jul 2018
    Green NY Gov candidate Howie Hawkins endorses "social control of the economy," actual socialism.
  • Abolish the US Gulag
    Kyle Fraser , Black Agenda Radio producer
    Abolish the US Gulag
    23 Jul 2018
    Activists with Critical Resistance NYC have launched a letter-writing campaign to political prisoners.
  • Russiagate is an Historical “Farce”
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Russiagate is an Historical “Farce”
    23 Jul 2018
    “We see the Democrats, who are supposed to be a party of civil liberties and human rights, adopting McCarthyist tactics,” said Jeremy Kuzmarov, co-author, along with John Marciano,
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us