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 is Back Coalition Says Hands Off the African Liberation Movement
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black is Back Coalition Says Hands Off the African Liberation Movement
    14 Oct 2022
    The Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace, and Reparations has joined the call for anti-war actions taking place from October 15th to October 22nd. Lisa Davis joins us from New Jersey to…
  • Haiti Special Issue
    The Editors
    Haiti Special Issue
    12 Oct 2022
    Black Agenda Report focuses on Haiti in this week's issue.
  • Biden's Marijuana Policy Frees No One
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Biden's Marijuana Policy Frees No One
    12 Oct 2022
    Biden's announcement of pardons for federal convictions of marijuana possession is meaningless. The pardons free no one from prison and don't even expunge records.
  • Trump Calls for Peace in Ukraine While Democrats Make Support for War a Midterm Campaign Issue
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Trump Calls for Peace in Ukraine While Democrats Make Support for War a Midterm Campaign Issue
    12 Oct 2022
    Donald Trump is no peace maker, but his stance on negotiations to end the war in Ukraine is in stark contrast to that of the democrats, who fully support continuing the dangerous proxy war against…
  • TESTIMONY: Temwayaj Kout Kouto, 1937: Eyewitnesses to the Genocide
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    TESTIMONY: Temwayaj Kout Kouto, 1937: Eyewitnesses to the Genocide
    12 Oct 2022
    Rarely do we hear from the victims of the 1937 genocide of Haitians at the Haiti-Dominican border. Their memories are one of unimaginable violence.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us