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


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Jamaal Bowman, AIPAC, Phony Progressives, and Black Misleadership
    26 Jun 2024
    Jamaal Bowman is more of a clown than he is a congressman. His lack of seriousness and AIPAC money defeated him in a primary election. The lesson is to fight for and mobilize the people, who will…
  • Ron Daniels
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    EDITORIAL: Ron Daniels and the Haiti Support Project [are] at it Again…, Ezili Dantò, 2005
    26 Jun 2024
    A 2005 editorial from Ezili Dantò reminds us that when it comes to Haiti, Black huckster Ron Daniels is cruising on the wrong side of history.
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ansar Allah Are Not Working with Al-Shabaab - Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad
    26 Jun 2024
    US and EU forces have been unable to defeat Ansar Allah and now the US is floating a story that they’re working with Al Shabaab.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Is ‘Duel’ the better 4-letter Dream word for ‘Debate?’
    26 Jun 2024
    "Is ‘Duel’ the better 4-letter Dream word for ‘Debate?’" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Free All Political Prisoners –- Including Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning
    26 Jun 2024
    Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning paid a high price for revealing U.S. vicious criminality in Iraq. Their experiences are indicative of how far the state will go to silence anyone who reveals its…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us