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


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    TESTIMONY: Coup d'Etat in Haiti, Maxine Waters, March 4, 2004
    15 May 2024
    Remembering when Auntie Maxine Waters testified for Haiti, and against the US coup-mongering gangsters.
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Won’t you please come to Chicago? Cheri Honkala on the Democratic National Convention
    15 May 2024
    The City of Chicago has inadvertently granted the Poor People’s Army a permit to march to the convention steps of the United Center during the Democratic National Convention.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Papa Cop’s Pedagogy of the Oppressor (Apartheid state professors or SS students?)
    15 May 2024
    "Papa Cop’s Pedagogy of the Oppressor (Apartheid state professors or SS students?)" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Anthony Rogers-Wright
    The Democrats Have Lost Their Trump Card: A Study of Three Issue Areas
    15 May 2024
    The Democrats have used the very old tactic of winning votes out of fear, recently that of the MAGA boogeyman. But this tactic is finally beginning to lose its effect.
  • Danny Shaw
    Columbia Students vs The State
    15 May 2024
    Columbia alumnus, former professor, and organizer, Danny Shaw, recounts his experience at the Columbia University Gaza Solidarity Encampment organizing with students.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us