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
šŸ–Øļø 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 ā€˜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 Ā© 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


  • Remembering the 2020 Black Lives Matter Uprising/Cuba and Venezuela in Focus w/Jacqueline Luqman
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
    Remembering the 2020 Black Lives Matter Uprising/Cuba and Venezuela in Focus w/Jacqueline Luqman
    10 Jun 2022
    Journalist and activist Jacqueline Luqman joins the Left Lens to discuss the two year anniversary of the BLM uprisings and her recent trips to Cuba and Venezuela.
  • Black Agenda Radio June 10, 2022
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Black Agenda Radio June 10, 2022
    10 Jun 2022
    The UK sends asylum seekers to Rwanda, the number of police killings in the U.S. continue unabated, and the Democratic Republic of Congo is threatened by U.S. client states and comprador, neo-…
  • The UK Will Send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The UK Will Send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda
    10 Jun 2022
    The United Kingdom is paying the Rwandan government $150 million to accept asylum seekers. The UK is accelerating deportations and denial of legal rights to Global South immigrants. Fiona of the…
  • Number of Police Killings in 2022 Outpace 2021
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Number of Police Killings in 2022 Outpace 2021
    10 Jun 2022
    Police killings continue at a rate of more than 1,000 per year in the U.S., with 2022 numbers outpacing those of 2021. Sam Simyangwe of Mapping Police Violence provides analysis of the death toll and…
  • Congo Attacked by U.S. Client States and Neo-Colonial Politics
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Congo Attacked by U.S. Client States and Neo-Colonial Politics
    10 Jun 2022
    The Democratic Republic of Congo lives under threat of attack from neighboring U.S. client states Rwanda and Uganda. Its neo-colonial leadership acts on the direction of Washington and Europe.…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us