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

  • Bernie Wants to Seize the Means of Electricity Production
    Johanna Bozuwa
    Bernie Wants to Seize the Means of Electricity Production
    04 Sep 2019
    Bernie Sanders wants to take private profit out of the energy grid as part of his comprehensive Green New Deal plan.
  • Kamala Harris is the Face of the Democratic Party’s Protest Campaign against Bernie Sanders
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    Kamala Harris is the Face of the Democratic Party’s Protest Campaign against Bernie Sanders
    04 Sep 2019
    Harris’ candidacy has since day one operated as a protest campaign against Bernie Sanders. “Harris appears to be the elite’s most favored insurance policy.”
  • Foreign Aid for Rwanda, Suffering for Rwandans and Congolese
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    Foreign Aid for Rwanda, Suffering for Rwandans and Congolese
    04 Sep 2019
    Rwanda is treated as a showcase of US-allied Africa, but even western capitalists don’t believe dictator Paul Kagame’s economic numbers, and his own fortune comes from looting Congo.
  • How Race Made the Opioid Crisis
    Donna Murch
    How Race Made the Opioid Crisis
    04 Sep 2019
    The fundamental division between “dope” and medicine has always been the race and class of users.
  • My Wise Country Cousin: de Low-leeta Xpress a Bi-Party-sin Flight
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    My Wise Country Cousin: de Low-leeta Xpress a Bi-Party-sin Flight
    04 Sep 2019
    Humph, an’ to think dey made “Birth ob de Nation“ spreadin’ dat filth— dat rotten disinformation— I bet dis what shrinks mean wit dey word, “projekshun?”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us