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


  • The State Uses Poverty to Split Workers
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    The State Uses Poverty to Split Workers
    11 Jun 2018
    “When you talk about coming out of poverty, you’ve got to go straight up against this government,” said Marian Kramer, head of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and widow of
  • Cops Use Suits to Intimidate Activists
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Cops Use Suits to Intimidate Activists
    11 Jun 2018
    When Seattle city councilwoman Kshama Sawant, of the Socialist Alternative party, denounced the “brutal murder” of Che Taylor, an unarmed Black man, by police, the two cops sued he
  • What Would An Authentic 21st Century US Left Look Like?
    Bruce A. Dixon , BAR managing editor
    What Would An Authentic 21st Century US Left Look Like?
    07 Jun 2018
    Let’s face it, the US left is a long way right now from contending for power.
  • BAR at the Left Forum
    The Editors
    Black Agenda Report's Panel Discussion at the 2018 Left Forum
    06 Jun 2018
    This was the 2018 Black Agenda Report panel at the 2018 Left Forum in NYC. The participants took part in other panels and presentations as well, which we will showcase in coming weeks.
  • Nationalizing the Banks is a Popular Demand, So Let’s Demand It
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Nationalizing the Banks is a Popular Demand, So Let’s Demand It
    06 Jun 2018
    “Everybody knows that the bankers are criminal, and everybody hates the banks.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us