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


  • Nationwide Prison Strike Set for August 21 – September 9
    Kyle Fraser , Black Agenda Radio producer
    Nationwide Prison Strike Set for August 21 – September 9
    08 May 2018
    The death of 7 inmates in fighting at South Carolina’s Lee correctional facility “is an indictment on the nation as a whole,” said Brother Dee, of Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, in an in
  • ANC Tried to Purge Winnie Mandela
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    ANC Tried to Purge Winnie Mandela
    08 May 2018
    Winnie Mandela, the political activist and former wife of Nelson Mandela who died last month at age 81, “became a target for her unwavering support of the ideas contained in the Freedom Charter,” s
  • Rev. Pinkney Exonerated, Set Free
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Rev. Pinkney Exonerated, Set Free
    08 May 2018
    “Nobody ever defeated these people,” but “we’re going to come together and win this war -- it’s goin’ down,” declared Benton Harbor Black activist Rev.
  • DNC Suit Endangers Press Freedoms
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    DNC Suit Endangers Press Freedoms
    08 May 2018
    “If the DNC can sue Wikileaks for economic espionage, then why can’t they sue The New York Timesor The Interceptfor reporting on” purloined emails, said Chip Gibbons
  • Thank the Lazy Clown President This Time
    Bruce A. Dixon , BAR managing editor
    Thank the Lazy Clown President This Time
    03 May 2018
    There are times when a self serving incompetent buffoon with a short attention span may do the whole world a favor, and deserve our thanks. This might be one of them.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us