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


  • Advocacy for Expungement of Criminal Records
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Advocacy for Expungement of Criminal Records
    26 May 2023
    Jay Jordan is CEO of Alliance for Safety and Justice and he also serves as Co-Founder and National Director for the program Time Done, whose 200,000 members have advocated for more than 8 million…
  • The Durham Report and the FBI
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Durham Report and the FBI
    26 May 2023
    Margaret Kimberley was a guest on the Sputnik program, The Critical Hour, with co-host Garland Nixon. They discussed the Durham Report and the FBI’s history of violating the law.
  • Biden's Debt Ceiling Betrayal is a Democratic Party Tradition
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Biden's Debt Ceiling Betrayal is a Democratic Party Tradition
    24 May 2023
    Joe Biden is continuing the ignoble tradition of colluding with republicans while pretending to fight them. The latest debt limit drama is another betrayal of the people.
  • INTERVIEW: Amy Jacques Garvey, 1973
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: Amy Jacques Garvey, 1973
    24 May 2023
    In one of the last interviews before her death, Amy Jacques Garvey provides a powerful riposte to those contemporary revisionists that would seek to dismiss the power of the UNIA and Garvey movement…
  • Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in China
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in China
    24 May 2023
    Eritrea can chart an exciting new development path through mutually respectful collaboration with China.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us