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


  • Theory 101: Historical Materialism and the Legacy of Columbus
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    Theory 101: Historical Materialism and the Legacy of Columbus
    17 Oct 2018
    The celebration of Columbus is a product of over five centuries of colonialism and capitalist development.
  • Deadly, Cowardly U.S. Drone Wars in Africa
    Mark P. Fancher
    Deadly, Cowardly U.S. Drone Wars in Africa
    17 Oct 2018
    The anticipated reduction of US troops in Africa will be matched by an increase in killer drones.
  • BAR Book Forum: Shadaab Rahemtulla’s “Qur'an of the Oppressed”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Shadaab Rahemtulla’s “Qur'an of the Oppressed”
    17 Oct 2018
    A central aim of liberation theology, in both the Christian and Muslim faiths, is to wrestle theology away from the elites and their privileged pontification
  • Black Agenda Radio, week of Oct 15, 2018
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio, Week of October 15, 2018
    16 Oct 2018
    Uganda's Yoweri Museveni worse than Idi Amin, says Milton Allimadi; Ajamu Baraka: Building the Black Alliance For Peace; Martha Escobar on the carceral state.
  • The Straight Line from Slavery to Mass Incarceration
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    The Straight Line from Slavery to Mass Incarceration
    15 Oct 2018
    The US model of mass incarceration can only be understood as an extension of slavery, said Martha Escobar, author of Captivity Beyond Prisons: Criminalization Experiences of La
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us