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

Mengele Medicine… Free
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Jul 2017
🖨️ Print Article

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

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Symone Sanders
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Black Media Misleaders Do the Democrats' Dirty Work
    29 Nov 2023
    Over a year in advance, the Black Misleadership Class has kicked their efforts to corral Black people into the Democratic party, despite the Dems’ apathy toward Black politics or the concerns of…
  • Protester holding up sign saying "Don't censor Palestine"
    Thad Baltimore
    Uncovering Media Misinformation About The Gaza Genocide
    29 Nov 2023
    The US empire is continuing its psychological warfare campaign by conducting a mass mobilization of resources and waging a propaganda offensive to protect its interests in the Middle East.
  • Map of disputed territory between Venezuela and Guyana
    Tamanisha John
    Guyana and Venezuela: The Crisis of Imperialism Currently Unfolding on South America's Caribbean Coast
    29 Nov 2023
    Despite the reality of US intervention causing inhumane conditions in the region, Venezuela’s push for the annexation of Guyana’s Essequibo region prioritizes its own political objectives,…
  • New Orleans residents walk through chest deep floodwater during Hurricane Katrina
    Maya RIchard-Craven
    The Hidden Toll of Hurricane Katrina on the Mental Health of Black Survivors
    29 Nov 2023
    Survivors open up about struggles with lingering post-traumatic stress disorder 18 years after the storm
  • Kenya Supreme Court Building
    Peoples Dispatch
    Kenyan High Court Blocks Parliamentary Authorization of Police Mission to Haiti
    22 Nov 2023
    The high court in Nairobi will issue a ruling on a legal challenge to the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police forces to Haiti as part of a “multinational force.” The US and UN-backed mission has been…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us