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


  • Israel Lobby Throttles the constitution
    Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Israel Lobby Throttles the Constitution
    29 Aug 2017
    The U.S. House has passed, and the Senate is considering, a bill designed to break the back of the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions movement.
  • Blacks Should Not Become Uncle Sam’s Clean-Up Crew
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Blacks Should Not Become Uncle Sam’s Clean-Up Crew
    24 Aug 2017
    Blacks Should Not Become Uncle Sam’s Clean-Up Crew by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
  • Freedom Rider: Kaepernick and True Protest
    Margaret Kimberley , BAR editor and senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Kaepernick and True Protest
    24 Aug 2017
    Freedom Rider: Kaepernick and True Protest by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
  • Black Alliance for Peace Calls on the U.S. to End Its War in Afghanistan
    Ajamu Baraka , BAR editor and columnist
    Black Alliance for Peace Calls on the U.S. to End Its War in Afghanistan
    24 Aug 2017
    Black Alliance for Peace Calls on the U.S. to End Its War in Afghanistan by BAR editor and columnist Ajamu Baraka
  • Charlottesville is America: The Myth of the White Supremacist Tidal Wave
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    Charlottesville is America: The Myth of the White Supremacist Tidal Wave
    24 Aug 2017
    Charlottesville is America: The Myth of the White Supremacist Tidal Wave by BAR contributor Danny Haiphong
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us