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


  • US Bombing Wars Remain Hidden from the American People
    Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies  
    US Bombing Wars Remain Hidden from the American People
    12 Jan 2022
    The military revealed the extent of its deadliness, acknowledging 337,000 bombs dropped around the world for the last 20 years.
  • Covid Fueled by Neoliberal Austerity
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Covid Fueled by Neoliberal Austerity
    05 Jan 2022
    The neo-liberal austerity model of governance ensures that Covid-19 will continue spreading and producing new variants. Only people focused public health remedies will end the pa
  • Ukraine: What Does it Have to Do with Black Folks?
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Ukraine: What Does it Have to Do with Black Folks?
    05 Jan 2022
    “…it is imperative that everyone, in particular Black and working-class people, understand that not having an awareness of the interconnections of the “grind” (the struggle to survive in the U.
  • The Black Agenda Review of Books
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    The Black Agenda Review of Books
    05 Jan 2022
    An overview of recent Black books that can help us get through the year ahead.
  • Don't Look Up Reflects the Cynicism of Capitalist Decay, for Better and for Worse
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Don't Look Up Reflects the Cynicism of Capitalist Decay, for Better and for Worse
    05 Jan 2022
    The controversial film offers insight into the crisis of the system but misses the mark in key areas.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us