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


  • Philadelphia's Top Cop Defends Indefensible Prejudice in Starbucks Arrest Incident
    Linn Washington Jr
    Philadelphia's Top Cop Defends Indefensible Prejudice in Starbucks Arrest Incident
    25 Apr 2018
    “According to some, being a young black or Latino male is, by definition, probable cause for the belief that criminal activity is afoot.”
  • African Refugees Get No Reprieve from Israel’s Racist Rage
    David Sheen
    African Refugees Get No Reprieve from Israel’s Racist Rage
    25 Apr 2018
    “Netanyahu has claimed that the non-Jewish refugees -- about half Christian and half Muslim -- pose a threat to Israel’s “national identity.”
  • ‘New Imperialism’ Debate Suffers from the Omission of Subimperialism
    Patrick Bond
    ‘New Imperialism’ Debate Suffers from the Omission of Subimperialism
    25 Apr 2018
    “The immense needs of their own populations do not drive their policy orientations.”
  • Bandung Of The North: Towards a Decolonial International
    Bandung of The North
    Bandung Of The North: Towards a Decolonial International
    25 Apr 2018
    “It will be the first international conference of colored people that takes up the issues of people of color who are living in the Global North to discuss matters of common concern.”
  • Black Agenda Radio, Week of April 23, 2018
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio, Week of April 23, 2018
    24 Apr 2018
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of April 23, 2018 Corporate Media “Could Care Less” About International Law
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us