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


  • US War Against Russia Dates Back to the Fear of Soviet Union
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    US War Against Russia Dates Back to the Fear of Soviet Union
    22 Nov 2017
    “Russia is one of the largest obstacles in the way of US expansionism, next to China -- which should be enough to convince US activists to defend Russia from imperial attack.”
  • Neocolonial Kleptocracy and Clinton Connections
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    Neocolonial Kleptocracy and Clinton Connections
    22 Nov 2017
    “Rwanda remains the poorest country in East Africa, except for Burundi.”
  • “Our Agenda”
    Rebecka Rutledge Fisher, Ph.D.
    “Our Agenda”
    22 Nov 2017
    “Black unbelonging — black Americans as historical outsiders — is at the heart of our Constitution.”
  • The Legend of the Black Mecca: Politics and Class in the Making of Modern Atlanta
    Dr. Maurice J. Hobson
    The Legend of the Black Mecca: Politics and Class in the Making of Modern Atlanta
    22 Nov 2017
    “Atlanta was deemed the ‘poster child’ for progress in race relations because of the relationships between the city’s Black upper and middle classes and the white business elite.”
  • The Fight to End Abusive Behavior Towards Black Women
    Ken Morgan
    The Fight to End Abusive Behavior Towards Black Women
    22 Nov 2017
    “To bury Black women’s oppression embodied in Black oppression once and for all, we need to transform society.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us