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

What The Video Shows
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
01 Dec 2015
🖨️ Print Article

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, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t 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 officers…

Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t 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 officer’s
Fire…

Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t trust your lying eyes

Notice the suspect’s body refusing to
Stay still; notice the suspect’s body 
bouncing, twisting—that’s resisting
Notice the suspect’s body refusing to
Just die—that’s resisting—he’s resisting!

Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t 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 ‘bleed out’—a split–second decision
this work’s hard enough without second-guessing 

Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t 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, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t trust your lying eyes

Video’s two dimensional—what you think you
See is not what you really see—take that hospital 
Bombed
In Afghanistan—it wasn’t really bombed—it only
Looked bombed. It only looks like splattered blood
on ICU walls. That head only looks like it’s detached 
from its torso. It only looks like 32 people were killed…
Video’s two dimensional—what you think you
See is not what you really see—so repeat after me:
Baby, don’t do it
Baby, don’t you do it
Baby, don’t dare do it
Don’t trust your lying eyes

Raymond Nat Turner Š 2015 All Rights Reserved

subscribe to our free weekly email notifying you of new content published at Black Agenda Report

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Ruling Class “Crisis of Legitimacy” is Behind “Bernie Blackout”
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Ruling Class “Crisis of Legitimacy” is Behind “Bernie Blackout”
    12 Nov 2019
    The ruling class is attempting “to establish its legitimacy, once again, without the popular mandate of broad sections of the people,” said Duboisian scholar Dr Anthony Monteiro
  • By trying to Silence Sanders, the Corporate Media De-Legitimize Themselves
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    By trying to Silence Sanders, the Corporate Media De-Legitimize Themselves
    07 Nov 2019
    Sanders has been made into a non-person, and his proposals routinely distorted, because the corporate media want Americans to meekly submit to the Race to the Bottom.
  • Freedom Rider: America Needs Protest
    Margaret Kimberley , BAR editor and senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: America Needs Protest
    06 Nov 2019
    A thousand young people demonstrated in Brooklyn, jumping over turnstiles in solidarity with others arrested and brutalized by the cops.
  • Donald in the Donbass, Biden in the Crossfire
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    Donald in the Donbass, Biden in the Crossfire
    06 Nov 2019
    Whether Trump tried to make an impeachable arms deal with Ukraine or not, “the last thing Ukraine needs is more weapons of any kind.” 
  • The World is Rising Up Against Austerity and the Rule of the Rich, When Will We?
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    The World is Rising Up Against Austerity and the Rule of the Rich, When Will We?
    06 Nov 2019
    Black political captivity in the Democratic Party has a lot to do with why there is no clear peace movement in the United States.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us