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


  • Kenyan High Court
    Dzyuya Walter
    High Court Blocks Deployment Of Kenyan Police To Haiti
    10 Oct 2023
    The Kenyan government has been temporarily blocked from sending a police force to occupy Haiti, a U.S. instigated plot to undermine the sovereignty of that nation.
  • Cover of "Thinking While Black"
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Daniel McNeil’s Book, “Thinking While Black”
    10 Oct 2023
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Daniel McNeil. McNeil is a professor in the Department of History at Queen’s…
  • Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the African People's Socialist Party
    David S. D'Amato
    The FBI’s Long History of Criminalizing Dissent
    10 Oct 2023
    The indictment of the Uhuru 3 is part of a long history of persecution and prosecution of the Black liberation movement.
  • Drawing of woman in front of a fire
    James Patrick Jordan
    Don’t Be Confused About Haiti
    10 Oct 2023
    The lies that are told about Haiti are so deeply ingrained that people who should know better believe that the next occupation will cure all of that country's ills. In fact, Haiti's problems are the…
  • Images of all the presidents since Ronald Regan
    Imani Nile
    These Politicians are Playing in Our Faces
    10 Oct 2023
    Joe Biden had a moment of truth when he promised the oligarchs that nothing would fundamentally change if he became president. He kept his promise, and so will all those who come after him unless…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us