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
šŸ–Øļø 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 ā€˜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 Ā© 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


  • Liberalism Will Get Us Killed
    Erica Caines
    Liberalism Will Get Us Killed
    06 Nov 2019
    Much of the internet chatter over low- hanging fruit issues fails to address our material realities within a settler colony.
  • In Langston’s Home
    BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
    In Langston’s Home
    06 Nov 2019
    In Langston’s home Harlem You do as Langston Did Love the Jazz, the Blues, Words, acts, pages and stages In Langston’s home Harlem You do as Langston Did
  • ​​​​​​​Who’s Afraid of Alice Walker?
    Earl Hazell
    ​​​​​​​Who’s Afraid of Alice Walker?
    06 Nov 2019
    Opera singer and producer Earl Hazell reminds us that standing up for artists and their vision is standing up for free speech, democracy, and ourselves.
  • Letters from Our ReadersĀ 
    Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our ReadersĀ 
    06 Nov 2019
    This week our readers discussed black feminism and the alleged killing of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.  We print your letters for ā€œ
  • BAR Book Forum:Ā Keguro Macharia’sĀ ā€œFrottageā€
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum:Ā Keguro Macharia’sĀ ā€œFrottageā€
    06 Nov 2019
    Instead of succumbing to xenophobia and nativism, as with anti-Somali sentiment in Kenya or ADOS in the US, we need to pursue freedom in ways that speak to our differences.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us