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


  • People Power (Or 30 min. men and women every 4 yrs?)
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    People Power (Or 30 min. men and women every 4 yrs?)
    02 Dec 2020
    The People earned a dancing in the streets day, horn honking, slogan shouting day—collective sigh/exhale of relief day…Yes, The People deserve
  • "Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens" Demonstrates the Depths of New Cold War Propaganda against China
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    "Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens" Demonstrates the Depths of New Cold War Propaganda against China
    02 Dec 2020
    In the season finale, the liberal mask comes off and the program morphs into a screed for the U.S.’s New Cold War on China.
  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    02 Dec 2020
    This week the ideological education of the working class, the need for socialism, and the aims of a Biden administration were on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s “Collective Courage”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s “Collective Courage”
    02 Dec 2020
    Many of the great African American thinkers, movers, and shakers were also leaders in the Black cooperative movement.
  • BAR Book Forum: Ana-Maurine Lara’s “Queer Freedom : Black Sovereignty” and “Streetwalking”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Ana-Maurine Lara’s “Queer Freedom : Black Sovereignty” and “Streetwalking”
    02 Dec 2020
    The author wants us to deepen our analysis of how power moves through the world to constrain Black life, and how queer Black people resist these constraints.  
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us