by BAR's poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
Video, as police and military malefactors frequently remind us, is two dimensional.
What The Video Shows
by BAR's poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
Baby, donât do it
Baby, donât you do it
Baby, donât dare do it
Donât trust your lying eyes
The officer drove 6 min.
Like Mario Andretti impersonating
Evel Knivel on Chicago streets
The officer alighted from his vehicle
Firing and fearing for his safety and
The safety of his fellow officersâŚ
Baby, donât do it
Baby, donât you do it
Baby, donât dare do it
Donât trust your lying eyes
After being struck by several rounds
Fired by the responding officer, the
Suspect assumed a combative prone
Position and began resisting the officerâs
FireâŚ
Baby, donât do it
Baby, donât you do it
Baby, donât dare do it
Donât trust your lying eyes
Notice the suspectâs body refusing to
Stay still; notice the suspectâs body
bouncing, twistingâthatâs resisting
Notice the suspectâs body refusing to
Just dieâthatâs resistingâheâs resisting!
Baby, donât do it
Baby, donât you do it
Baby, donât dare do it
Donât trust your lying eyes
The officer feared for his safety and
The safety of his fellow officers whose
Guns were holstered
The officer feared for his safety and
The safety of his fellow officers and
The safety of the suspect, so they let
Him âbleed outââa splitâsecond decision
this workâs hard enough without second-guessing
Baby, donât do it
Baby, donât you do it
Baby, donât dare do it
Donât trust your lying eyes
Well, on second viewing, the officer may
Have used poor judgment, may have over-
Reacted; the officer may need more training
Baby, donât do it
Baby, donât you do it
Baby, donât dare do it
Donât trust your lying eyes
Videoâs two dimensionalâwhat you think you
See is not what you really seeâtake that hospital
Bombed
In Afghanistanâit wasnât really bombedâit only
Looked bombed. It only looks like splattered blood
on ICU walls. That head only looks like itâs detached
from its torso. It only looks like 32 people were killedâŚ
Videoâs two dimensionalâwhat you think you
See is not what you really seeâso repeat after me:
Baby, donât do it
Baby, donât you do it
Baby, donât dare do it
Donât trust your lying eyes
Raymond Nat Turner Š 2015 All Rights Reserved
A school handbook paints a picture of youth criminality that is steeped in law enforcement lingo and appears to have been written by police rather than educators.
US Must Build Housing on a Bigger Scale than the New Deal
The nationâs best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, was jubilant at the release of Chuck Africa, at 59 the last of the Move 9 members to leave prison after conviction
Julian Assange must be set free, like all the other political prisoners of US Empire,â said BAR executive editor Glen Ford.
Public schools in Black America are part of the mass incarceration system, said David Stovall, a professor of African American Studies and Criminology at the University of Ill
