by BAR poet in residence Raynmond Nat Turner
This week our poet examines the links between the blankets settlers distributed among Native Americans and capitalism's reckless disregard of human, environmental and medica ethics.
Mengele Medicine… Free
by BAR poet in residence Raynmond Nat Turner
I.
My mom inspected
hell holes, City of
Angels,
ruled by devils.
Captured Angelinos
complained about
Not getting water.
Red punch, sí— water, no;
As the Founding Fathers,
The Framers—of warriors
and truth-tellers—intended…
Outside the city,
concertina wire veils
Loveless gray walls
keeping a grim gulag
out of sight, out of mind;
Concealing the work camp,
pharmaceutical
playground, infested
with sadistic torturers;
and Mengele medicine men
standing on skeletons—
suffering side-effects
of pulse-less persons,
$500.00 an hour lawyers.
Mengele medicine men,
practicing goober dust,
black cat dander, four-
leaf clover, rabbit’s foot,
aspirin for cancer quackery.
Experimenting with
effects of no water,
sugar water, fracked water,
black water, white bread
on diabetic shock subjects—
Side effects of remote-
controlled Death Panels,
posing as parole boards…
II.
Warriors, Freedom Fighters’
Sacrifices paved our way—
Heroic lamp-lighters
Long for light of day
And they gotta be Free, Free, Free
‘Cause they hold the Key, Key, Key
Resistance isn’t crime
When tellers of truth fight back
From cages of endless time
And peculiar tenure-track
And they gotta be Free, Free, Free
‘Cause they hold the Key, Key, Key
Torture arisoners, Prisoners of War…)
(1st stanza 1st time Rubato; Ballad feel;
1st stanza 2nd time to Groove)
Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved
BAR's Ppoet in residence, Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. We'll have to put up a booking page for him here soon. Meanwhile you can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com
Kareem Crayton is senior director for voting and representation at the Brennan Center for Justice.
Zulu Sharod is Chairman of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party which is based in New Jersey.
Ali Abunimah is Director of electronicantifada.net, an independent online news publication and educational resource focusing on Palestine.
In this week's segment we hear about the state of Black politics in Newark and across the country.
Thanks for your support of Black Agenda Report in 2023. We are taking our annual break and we'll be back on January 10, 2024. Power to the people!
