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

My Wise Country Cousin on The State Machine’s Machinegun-Totin’ Cops… 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
01 Jan 1970
🖨️ Print Article

My Wise Country Cousin on The State Machine’s Machinegun-Totin’ Cops… 

by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner

Look lak de Daltuns, Youngas an ol’ James gangs

Is resirrecit, an’ up ridin’ again, doin’ dey thangs—

Bowdin’ de D train wit machinegun-totin’ police

Dey needin’ dat firepower fo’ “keepin’ de peace?”

‘Less Al Kater on de A, Boocoo Harome on de B

Dem damn machineguns make no sense, to me…

‘Less Eyesool on de C, an’ Eyesis down on de D

Dem damn machineguns make no sense, to me…

Dey got Glocks, pumps, tasirs, peppurspray, vess—

White magik fo’ conjurin’ cases ob “resisin’ aress!”

Dey shoutin’ night an’ day‘bout Eyesool and Eyesis

Coverin’ up de fac dey sistum’s tremblin’ wit crisis:

Workin’ folk tired ob takeaways an’ myzerly charity

Caint take much mo’ ob dese heists called awesterity—

Son, I tolt you once, tolt you twice, dis makes thrice

Dis a police state Negroz an’ liberuls call ‘paradice!’

Dey got C-Is, Demografick Units an Mosk Crawlers,

Ebben mens among trash hallers, an’ cable installers…

Now, it lookin’ lak to me dat Bloody Billy Bratton

Is bringin’ dat ol’ SS mess up here in Manhattun…

Sho lookin’ lak what de youngtaz be callin’ po-po

Is jes de Furor’s ol’ gang ob thugs de Gustop-po—

Well, so much fo’ hare-splittin,’ ackademik debate,

It pas’ time fo’ callin’ dis muthafucka a police state!

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com
Raymond Nat Turner © 2105 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


  • Freedom Rider: Standing with the Cuban People
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Standing with the Cuban People
    23 Jul 2021
    The current Black-centered Cuban protest operation is very well orchestrated and if Black people in this country are not careful, they will end up amplifying the dictates of U.S.
  • DOCUMENT: The Rise of Black Power in the West Indies: Walter Rodney, 1969
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    DOCUMENT: The Rise of Black Power in the West Indies: Walter Rodney, 1969
    23 Jul 2021
    Rodney succinctly demonstrates how capitalism and colonialism, and nationalism and imperialism, function to create a rigid hierarchy by which color is fused with class to keep the Black majorities
  • Joe Biden is Wrong, Capitalism IS Exploitation
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Joe Biden is Wrong, Capitalism IS Exploitation
    23 Jul 2021
    The COVID-19 pandemic has produced numerous examples of “disaster capitalism, and spectacular profits for billionaires.”
  • The TPLF Attack on Ethiopia Contains the Accumulated Evil of the War
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    The TPLF Attack on Ethiopia Contains the Accumulated Evil of the War
    23 Jul 2021
    The western nations that Ethiopia previously kow-towed to claim national government forces attacked Tigrayan troops first, when precisely the opposite occurred.
  • Our ‘democracy’
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Our ‘democracy’
    23 Jul 2021
    Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne- caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who Pay nothing for water washing their waste to sewage 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us