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
  • omnibus

(OSCAR) Old Southern Californian Aryan Racketeers
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Feb 2015
🖨️ Print Article

(OSCAR) Old Southern Californian Aryan Racketeers

by Raymond Nat Turner

Curtain rising, Black images

Fading, lost, stolen, strayed;

‘White’ suspense speeches

Read like corporate talking

Points, red carpet, 30 million

Viewers, Grand Jury True Bills—

Dice loaded, card’s marked,

Diversity smells like charcoal…

Well, “Hooray for Hollywood”

Never meant Black folk no good…

Get over opinions of color-

Blind ‘white’ men with

Bleached white plastic

Smiles, like you got over

Santa Claus, tooth fairies and

Taney’s Dred Scott script—

Oscar Micheaux’s the only

Oscar relevant, ignore pink-

Eyed lobbyists with detached

Retinas, jaundiced scammers

Legally blind, like monkeys on

Capitalist Hill, like sightless

Juries who saw Rodney as King-

Kong, “controlling the situation,”

Mike Brown as “Hulk Hogan

Bulking up, running through shots,”

Eric Garner as an irresponsible

Stuntman, holding his breath

After his scene was a wrap—

Well, “Hooray for Hollywood”

Never meant Black folk no good…

Quit crashing burning house

Parties, wincing at embers, and

Acrid smoke blinding teleprompter

Readers, missing the Hurricane and X

Denzel whipped up, Round Midnight

Dexter Gordon delivered, timelessly,

Soldier Story Adolph Caesar marshaled, masterfully…

…Selma?

Well, “Hooray for Hollywood”

Never meant Black folk no good…

So tap grapevines, pool pennies

Grown at grassroots; hand out

Statuettes resembling Robeson,

Josephine Baker, Ruby Dee and

Ossie Davis—call ‘em ‘Robies,’

‘Paulies,’ ‘Josies,’ ‘Rubies,’

‘Ossies—‘ just do it…

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com
Raymond Nat Turner © 2015 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


  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Eritrea: We Won’t Kneel Down
    06 Aug 2025
    Eritrean Americans celebrated their 51st Eritrean Festival and their home country’s resolute independence from August 1 to 3, 2025.
  • Jon Jeter
    Stagflation Returns, Shining a Spotlight on the Federal Reserve’s War on the Working Class
    06 Aug 2025
    History exposes the Fed's inflation fight for what it truly is: a decades-long class war waged against working people under the guise of monetary policy.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    There is no starvation
    06 Aug 2025
    "There is no starvation" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    The Green Zone of Controlled Opposition (Or, How The U.S. Climate Network Became Agents of Climate Inaction)
    06 Aug 2025
    The U.S. climate movement claims to fight for change while systematically silencing radical action. This isn’t resistance. It’s controlled opposition dressed in green.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Karen Antoinette Scott’s Book, SACKRED Birth
    06 Aug 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Karen Antoinette Scott.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us