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


  • Liberia and the Challenges of US Imperialism
    Djibo Sobukwe
    Liberia and the Challenges of US Imperialism
    26 Apr 2023
    Liberia's history should be understood as that of a colony, the first U.S. overseas colony.
  • Peruvian Coup Regime Approves Lithium Mining as Puno Rejects Plan Without Nationalization
    Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    Peruvian Coup Regime Approves Lithium Mining as Puno Rejects Plan Without Nationalization
    26 Apr 2023
    The people of Peru demand that their lithium reserves benefit that nation through a nationalization process, and that their environment be protected when their resources are extracted.
  • It’s Not Military Force But an End to Impunity That Can Bring Peace to the Congo
    Peoples Dispatch
    It’s Not Military Force But an End to Impunity That Can Bring Peace to the Congo
    26 Apr 2023
    Kambale Musavuli talks about the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo following the discovery of mass graves in North Kivu, in Eastern DRC. He also explains why the solutions…
  • Democratic Transition in Sudan Further Delayed by Military Clashes
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Democratic Transition in Sudan Further Delayed by Military Clashes
    26 Apr 2023
    The current crisis between military factions in Sudan is a result of foreign interference and the subversion of democracy. The people of that nation need a return to civilian rule.
  • AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #46
    Black Alliance for Peace US Out of Africa Network
    AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #46
    26 Apr 2023
    The impact of the U.S./NATO destruction of the Libyan state is still being felt. AFRICOM is still the great destabilizer of the entire African continent.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us