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


  • Black Agenda Radio November 4, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio November 4, 2022
    04 Nov 2022
    Black politics in Pennsylvania and the mid-term elections, the Play Cousins Collective serves Black families in Louisville, Kentucky, and in New York City, Dr. Al-Fatah Stewart fights for justice and…
  • Black Politics and the 2022 Mid-Term Elections
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Politics and the 2022 Mid-Term Elections
    04 Nov 2022
    Dr. Anthony Monteiro is a Duboisian scholar and founder of the Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. He joins us from Philadelphia…
  • The Play Cousins Collective Serves the Needs of Black Families in Louisville, Kentucky
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Play Cousins Collective Serves the Needs of Black Families in Louisville, Kentucky
    04 Nov 2022
    Kristen Williams is Executive Director of the Louisville, Kentucky based Play Cousins Collective. Play Cousins Collective develops and facilitates programing and curriculum centering Black children's…
  • Dr. Al-Fatah Stewart Fights for Freedom
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Dr. Al-Fatah Stewart Fights for Freedom
    04 Nov 2022
    Dr. Al-Fatah Stewart has been held in the Rikers Island correctional facility in New York City for the last 43 months without trial. He recorded this message from Rikers Island in October 2022. His…
  • Politicians Make Black People the Face of Crime
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Politicians Make Black People the Face of Crime
    02 Nov 2022
    Manufactured crime panics are still a successful method of getting votes from white people.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us