Turn, turn, turn (For Pete)
by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner
“We say: killing is disorder, life and gentleness and community and unselfishness is the only order we recognize.”
—Daniel Berrigan, S.J.
I. False flag déjà vu?
If only FOIA
Zebras could speak,
Tap wet, cold, Wiki-
Leaks connecting
Shock doctrine dots, dis-
Inviting letters
Peering past
Graduation,
Legislation,
Assassination,
Into crystal ball funerals—
Would we see ALEC,
His Big Brother, 1%
Puppeteer strings and
Propaganda arms
Crimson as the floor
Of a meat packing
Plant, soiling fine silk?
3 lives 3 December acts?
Would 4 families, feel,
Sleep, any better?
II. Mow-down slowdown
CompStat numbers falling
Like leaden snowflakes,
No blurred blue lines,
Wallets mistaken
For guns, no guns dis-
Charging accidentally
In pitch black stairwells—
No loose cigarette
Seller executions,
Moratorium
On man-handling men,
Women and children,
On slamming sisters,
Insulting seniors
Darker than buttermilk…
No mow-down since the
Slowdown, blue flu saves
Black lives…
Slowdown speeding up
Dunkin and New York
Goes ‘bout swift business—
What a rockin’ way
To start the New Year!
Ooops, another bullshit
Detector’s blown—it’s not
Neurosurgery
Or rocket science,
To imagine you
Fighting crime, looking
Like a boxer, punching
Himself in the face!
Class-‘wartime,’ crime-fighters
Would look more like Occupy,
Staking out Wall Street,
Arresting on RICO
Charges, brokers,
Banksters, embezzlers
Entering temples
Of crime, confiscating
Laptops, tablets and
Other E-weapons
Of mass destruction,
Impounding their cars
For buying school books…
Class-‘wartime’ crime-fighters
Would arrest serial killer—
Killing every Tuesday—
Drone Ranger, the next
Time he rides his mule
Into NYC,
Kill list stuffed in his boot
Class-‘wartime’ crime-fighters
Could contain covens
Of criminally-insane
Witches like Samantha
Powers, Susan Rice,
Victoria Nuland,
Iron Ladies like Ms
Hillary, et al,
In orange nets next time
They trespass at the U.N.—
Rather than Sergeant
Pepperspray dousing
Young Occupy girls…
Class-‘wartime’ crime-fighters
Would put plastic cuffs
On old trolls like O’Reilly
Shouting “Fire!” in crowded
Theaters of war;
Bust 9/11
Hustlers like Count Ghouliani,
For loitering with
9/11 carts
In non-commercial zones…
III. Turn, turn, turn
A time for the killing of Browns and Blacks
For calling off marches, but turning backs…
A time for turning their backs on their mayor
The strong mass movement’s our only prayer
A strong movement ‘s in the world’s favor
Resisting empire, adding “Ferguson flavor”
Keep marching hard with flare you possess
Linking living-wage, Occupy and BDS!
Turn, turn, turn
Opposing police militarization —
Opposing their Israelification
Armed with musket or blunderbuss
It’s a “good shoot,” shooting us!
Turn, turn, turn
Herr Bratton’s shtik of “broken windows”
Like rebel yells, with “Dixie” crescendos
Slave patrol cars, helicopters and tanks
Real estate muscle for Wall Street banks
On call mercenaries for the one percent
With robotic violence for sale, or rent
Protecting /serving swindlers and looters—
Along with judges and prosecutors…
Turn, turn, turn
Opposing police militarization —
Opposing their Israelification
Armed with musket or blunderbuss
It’s a “good shoot,” shooting us!
Turn, turn, turn
A time for war, and a time for peace
A time for the leper training police
Police traipsing off to Tel Aviv
Apartheid change you can believe
Old techniques for guarding settlers
Treating the residents like meddlers
Taking mastery to a whole new level—
We’re “crim-terr,” poor “black devil”
Ghetto’s Gaza, barrio’s West Bank
Both fertile with SWAT team and tank
Licensed to ‘smoke’ Black-Brown ass—
Palestinians, it’s “mowing the grass…”
It’s “in policy” to kill with impunity
When policing the Black community…
Turn, turn, turn
Opposing police’s militarization —
Opposing their Israelification
Armed with musket or blunderbuss
It’s a “good shoot,” shooting us!
Turn, turn, turn
Cops need less training, more un-training
With their capitalist paymasters reigning…
Raymond Nat Turner © 2014 All Rights Reserved
Maurice Carney is the Executive Director of Friends of the Congo. He joins us to discuss the ongoing humanitarian and political crisis in eastern Congo, where the Rwandan government continues its…
Tag, a Spirit of Mandela coordinating committee member, joins us to talk about their upcoming community forum at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn on Saturday, February 1st. This is the first in a…
Margaret Kimberley was recently a guest on Jamarl Thomas's YouTube podcast. She discussed her latest Black Agenda Report article on “The Death of DEI.” The issues surrounding DEI are contradictory.…
Black people must be discerning about racist attacks on DEI programs while also acknowledging that “diversity” can be a con that damages Black politics, just as it was meant to do.
Langston Hughes’s 1943 poem against fascism is precise, droll, and eternal.
