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


  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    05 Nov 2018
    This week's articles got passions flowing on the subject of electoral politics in a duopoly arena.
  • more
    This Is Hell
    Facism Takes Brazil
    01 Nov 2018
    If there is an African world and it has eyes, they are fixed upon Brazil this week where a genuine fascist has come to power in the person of Jair Bolsonaro, who has vowed to hand over Brazilian pe
  • indpendence day antigua and barbuda
    Alvette Ellorton Jeffers
    A Knowing Deception: The Eve of Antigua and Barbuda Independence
    01 Nov 2018
    People who were born a few months before 1967 and those born in 1981 have never experienced white political rule in Antigua or Barbuda.
  • how stupid do they think we are
    Bruce A. Dixon , BAR managing editor
    How Thirsty and Stupid Do Stacey Abrams, Lucy McBath, and Most Progressive Democrat Congressional Candidates Think We Are?
    01 Nov 2018
    How Stupid Do Stacey Abrams and Lucy McBath Think We Are?
  • Fascism is Real, But the ā€œResistanceā€ is Mostly Fake
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Fascism is Real, But the ā€œResistanceā€ is Mostly Fake
    31 Oct 2018
    Fascism is always a danger under capitalism, with its frequent crises and endemic white supremacy, but the phony ā€œresistanceā€ is only concerned about electing Democrats.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us