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
  • omnibus

Gunmen
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Apr 2018
🖨️ Print Article
Stephon Clark's grandmother
Stephon Clark's grandmother

Hm, March 18th… my Mother’s birthday… I
heard lead bees stung the young man’s
Back, severed vertebrae, collapsed his lung,
left his arm bits of bone…on a ruby red river

Tear droughts betray me, though
Another Mother’s son was stolen—not
“Lost.” Though he didn’t “pass away”
on Disney sets of sci-fi
Where pigs fly
in firing squad formations,
under color of law, as
Gunmen—rerun-men:
Raising right hooves, testi-lying
about muted body-cams and
Special effects, puffing up Black men
as Hulk; Transmuting them into Black
Magic stunt men, simultaneously running
Away and Moonwalking “toward officers—”
Superman metallurgists, sorcerers turning
Wallets, candy bars, car keys, phones into guns…

The Town Crier, Raymond Nat Turner © 2018 All Rights Reserved

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com

poetry

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Reese Piece…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Reese Piece…
15 April 2021
Salute to City of Angels’ son! He wrote, he wrote, he wrote And he wrote… Ramparts, The Progressive, The
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
27 January 2021
Everybody’s wild ‘bout this ‘new’ dance craze— this lewd, crude dance called “The 1st 100 Daze…”
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
20 January 2021
Kristallnacht came casting lead ballots, overthrowing Black elected officials and Massacring those that VOTED for them— 
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
13 January 2021
“It's like writing history with lightning.“ — Woodrow Wilson on Birth of A Nation
Think…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Think…
06 January 2021
Think of peoples having the most tanks, the most drones, the most missiles, bombs, aircraft carriers, 
$election postmortem 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
$election postmortem 
10 December 2020
It was the Latino Vote… No, it was the Latinix vote! No, it was Black Women! No, it was LGBTQ+ Black Women!

More Stories


  • Kalonji Changa
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Struggle for Liberation Amid Celebrity Culture
    04 Jul 2025
    We are joined by Kalonji Changa, who is a co-founder of Black Power Media, founder of the FTP Movement, and co-author of the book Beyond Cop Cities: Dismantling State and Corporate-Funded Armies and…
  • Free Mumia event flyer
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Free Mumia Coalition of New York City Joins Mobilization in Philadelphia
    04 Jul 2025
    Gil Obler is an organizer with the Free Mumia Abu Jamal Coalition of New York City. He joins us from New York to discuss the Saturday, July 5th rally and march at Malcolm X memorial park in…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Necessity of Birthright Citizenship for Black People
    02 Jul 2025
    Black citizenship was non-existent for the first 200 years that enslaved and free people were present in what became the United States. Even long-standing legal victories are tenuous, and now…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Black Refugees Unwelcomed! Gaou Guinou Balewa, 1973
    02 Jul 2025
    “Haitian refugees and political exiles find themselves being refused the hospitality granted others.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Aggressors Unnamed in Rwanda-DRC “Peace Agreement”
    02 Jul 2025
    Rwandan and M23 forces are the aggressors in the DRC. They are integrated under Rwandan command.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us