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


  • First Public Comments After African People’s Socialist Party Members Indicted for Colluding with Russia
    Julie Varughese
    First Public Comments After African People’s Socialist Party Members Indicted for Colluding with Russia
    17 May 2023
    Members of the African People's Socialist Party and its Solidarity Committee were indicted on charges of acting under the influence of the Russian government. They vigorously defended themselves in…
  • Black Agenda Radio May 12, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 12, 2023
    12 May 2023
    African People's Socialist Party indictments, Cuban solidarity, and the 1970 police killings at Jackson State.
  • Federal Indictments of African People's Socialist Party
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Federal Indictments of African People's Socialist Party
    12 May 2023
    Omali Yeshitela is chairman of the African Peoples Socialist Party, leader of the Uhuru Movement, and the Black is Back Coalition.
  • Solidarity with Cuba
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Solidarity with Cuba
    12 May 2023
    Netfa Freeman just returned from Cuba, where he was one of the coordinators of the National Network on Cuba's delegation to the U.S. May Day Brigade.
  • 1970 Jackson State Shootings
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    1970 Jackson State Shootings
    12 May 2023
    C. Liegh McInnis is a poet, short story writer, and former instructor at Jackson State University.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us