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


  • “The State” and “Racial Capitalism” to Blame for Anti-Black Violence in UK
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    “The State” and “Racial Capitalism” to Blame for Anti-Black Violence in UK
    23 Feb 2021
    After long study, an anti-racial violence Monitoring Group found that anti-Black violence in the UK is driven mainly by “the police and other mechanisms of the state,” said Adam Elliott-Coo
  •  Police, Prisons and Prosecutors just Create More Victims
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Police, Prisons and Prosecutors just Create More Victims
    23 Feb 2021
    “We believe that all forms of law enforcement” in the US “are rooted in systems of violence,” said Samah Sisay, an organizer with the abolitionist group “Survived and Punished” and
  • Haiti: Black Despots and White Rulers
    Jemima Pierre
    Haiti: Black Despots and White Rulers
    17 Feb 2021
    The horror story in Haiti since 2004 is not really about despotic Black government, but is the consequence and crime of global white rule.
  • Freedom Rider: Impeachment Theater
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Impeachment Theater
    17 Feb 2021
    Democracy is hanging on by a thread -- not due to marauding Trumpsters – but because of bipartisan support for neoliberal policies.
  • What isn’t in Judas and The Black Messiah is Just as Important as What is
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    What isn’t in Judas and The Black Messiah is Just as Important as What is
    17 Feb 2021
    Hollywood is big, mostly white, capitalist business, so it’s no surprise that its new film on Fred Hampton provides little information on Black Panther politics and history.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us