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


  • Combat Nihilism: Revolutionary Optimism in the Age of U.S. Imperial Decline
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Combat Nihilism: Revolutionary Optimism in the Age of U.S. Imperial Decline
    05 Oct 2022
    Optimism would seem to be counter intuitive given the many crises facing millions of people in the U.S. and around the world. But optimism backed up by revolutionary thinking is just what is…
  • Brazil’s Haitian Training Ground
    Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
    Brazil’s Haitian Training Ground
    05 Oct 2022
    Brazil is setting up for a run-off election between right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and “leftist” former President Lula da Silva.
  • For African Americans, Employing a Radical Internationalist Perspective is not a Luxury, But a Necessity
    Dr. Gerald Horne
    For African Americans, Employing a Radical Internationalist Perspective is not a Luxury, But a Necessity
    05 Oct 2022
    Black people in this country must reconnect with the internationalist tradition in order to understand the crises taking place around the world and in the U.S. Domestic and international…
  • BAR Book Forum: Daive Dunkley’s Book, “Women and Resistance in the Early Rastafari Movement”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Daive Dunkley’s Book, “Women and Resistance in the Early Rastafari Movement”
    05 Oct 2022
    This week’s featured author is Daive Dunkley. Dunkley is Associate Professor in the Department of Black Studies and Adjunct Professor in the Department of History at the University of Missouri. His…
  • Ian pimp slaps Governor Woke Smoke—  and The People pay
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Ian pimp slaps Governor Woke Smoke— and The People pay
    05 Oct 2022
                                                         
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us