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


  • More US Troops in Latin America: Signs of an Invasion Foretold?
    MartĂ­n Pastor
    More US Troops in Latin America: Signs of an Invasion Foretold?
    01 Nov 2017
    “The upcoming military exercise is just another piece in this growing pattern of militarization and regional threat.”  
  • Imagine a Puerto Rico Recovery Designed by Puerto Ricans
    Elizabeth Yeampierre , Naomi Klein
    Imagine a Puerto Rico Recovery Designed by Puerto Ricans
    01 Nov 2017
    “Puerto Ricans are wise to shock doctrine tactics.”  
  • Black Agenda Radio, week of October 30, 2017
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio, Week of October 30, 2017
    01 Nov 2017
    This week Black Agenda Radio talks to Dr.
  • Let White Supremacy “Fucking Die”
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Let White Supremacy “Fucking Die”
    31 Oct 2017
    Sociology professor Johnny Williams is sitting out this semester under an imposed leave of absence from Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut, after a rightwing organization wh
  • Huey P. Newton Conference at Temple University
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Huey P. Newton Conference at Temple University
    31 Oct 2017
    The Black and Brown Coalition at Philadelphia’s Temple University held a day-long conference on the works of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us