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

(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


  • Zophia Edwards
    Profits for Unilever, Pressure for the Trinidad and Tobago Worker
    21 Aug 2024
    The global south is bombarded with exploitative corporations that control the economic conditions of the countries in which they operate. Unilever is among them, one of the leading corporations…
  • Ahmed Abdeen
    Egypt agrees to Israeli Control of Gaza Border in Return for Rafah Reopening
    21 Aug 2024
    Cairo to allow Israel to keep soldiers in Philadelphi Corridor or build an underground barrier - but the border crossing must be operated by Palestinians.
  • John Parker
    John Parker in Nigeria: We Will Win in Spite of Imperialism
    21 Aug 2024
    The United States is one of the leading imperialist powers fighting to maintain dominance on the African continent and around the world. The conference seeks to aid in the movement to push out the US…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio August 16, 2024
    16 Aug 2024
    This week, we discuss the international sports federations that fail to uphold their expressed values and allow apartheid Israel to compete. First, we talk about Black political history and the…
  • UAW picket line
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Kamala Harris and the Failure of Black Political Imagination
    16 Aug 2024
    Jon Jeter joins us to talk about the state of US politics and his soon-to-be-published book, Class War in America: How the Elites Divide the Nation By Asking Are You a Worker or Are You White?
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us