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

  • Putting Afro-Pessimism, Intersectionality, and Solidarity to Work
    Tryon P. Woods
    Putting Afro-Pessimism, Intersectionality, and Solidarity to Work
    08 Aug 2018
    “If the Movement for Black Lives can indirectly lead to an expanded sphere of safety for white women of a certain class status, with no commensurate enhanced protection for black people
  • An Interview With Boots Riley: “In the World of Film, We’ve Edited out All Rebellion”
    Chip Gibbons and Boots Riley
    An Interview With Boots Riley: “In the World of Film, We’ve Edited out All Rebellion”
    08 Aug 2018
    “I think the movement needs to organize the 93 percent of the work force that is not organized.”
  • BAR Book Forum: Mehrsa Baradaran’s “The Color of Money”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Mehrsa Baradaran’s “The Color of Money”
    08 Aug 2018
    “’Black capitalism’ was a crucial part of President Nixon’s ‘southern strategy’ and the rhetoric and administration of his program is still intact.”
  • BAR Book Forum: Peter James Hudson’s “Bankers and Empire”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Peter James Hudson’s “Bankers and Empire”
    08 Aug 2018
    “There can be no ‘black internationalism’ without an attack on imperialism and finance capitalism.”
  • Toward a New Vision for the Palestine Solidarity Movement
    Brandon Do
    Toward a New Vision for the Palestine Solidarity Movement
    08 Aug 2018
    “For 70 years Israel has been the biggest purveyor of war and chaos in what colonizers termed as the “Middle East.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us