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

Bad Hombres
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Jul 2018
🖨️ Print Article
Bad Hombres
Central American has the highest murder rate on the planet, thanks to 2 centuries of US intervention.

Miguel was a precocious
six-year-old. And Maria,
his mother, swore the
Sun’s shine started in
his green eyes. ‘Ojos Verde,’
she lovingly called him.

Blessed with perfect pitch,
Miguel’s music aptitude
was off the charts! He could pick
Melodies out on the tiny, beat up
guitar, his Grandpa rescued from
Rich folks’ trash and put in Miguel’s
small hands the moment he walked.
And the sky was the limit—before
Bad Hombres with
Badges kidnapped him…

Floods of florescent light, 24/7
and arbitrary darkness behind
blacked out windows…remind
Miguel that his world is flipped
Upside down like a car skidding out of
Control somewhere in Oregon or New York.
He misses his Mommy; He rocks and chants
staccato licks, “Ma-ma, ma-ma, ma-ma…”

The sharp needle pierces his tender
Brown flesh. He screams, “Ma-ma, Ma-ma!”
Sunshine drains from emerald eyes into slo-
mo replays like red flags thrown through the
Rest of his life…

After 54 days Miguel’s reunited with his Mommy.
She searches scabies and lice for emerald sunshine,
Finding busted windows where a tortured soul and
Nightmares reside profitably: Childcare provided by
Bad Hombres—
drug dealers
and rapists…

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

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

Central America

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


Related Stories

John Perry
UN “Experts” Fueling Washington’s Attacks on Nicaragua
01 April 2026
The UN panel’s reports on Nicaragua recycle claims from U.S.-backed opposition groups, serving as a propaganda arm for Washington’s regime chan
Gerald A. Perreira
Turning Its Back on Cuba: Government of Guyana Sells Its Soul
25 February 2026
Cuba has provided Guyana with doctors, scholarships, and healthcare for nearly five decades.

More Stories


  • Testi-lyin’
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Testi-lyin’
    07 Apr 2021
    Northeast, midwest, southwest, south, down south, up south, out south—south  of the Canadian border—Slouched down in his cruiser, slow-rollin’ the ‘hood; Or a-
  • Biden-Harris Look Ready to Keep U.S. In Afghanistan—Say No!
    Black Alliance For Peace
    Biden-Harris Look Ready to Keep U.S. In Afghanistan—Say No!
    07 Apr 2021
    The new Democratic administration seems determined to sabotage an agreement to end the “longest war.”
  • MLK Was a Radical Who Hated Not Only Racial Subordination But Class Exploitation
    Sylvie Laurent, interviewed by Arvind Dilawar
    MLK Was a Radical Who Hated Not Only Racial Subordination But Class Exploitation
    07 Apr 2021
    King explicitly linked the value of human dignity to the material conditions necessary to enable people to live a decent life.
  • Letters from Our Readers
    by Jahan Choudhry, Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    07 Apr 2021
    In "On Anarchism and Black Revolution" Peter James Hudson examines the historical roots of critiques of anarchism and its relationship to Black liberation movements.
  • BAR Book Forum: Short Meditations on Christina Sharpe’s “In the Wake”
    Troizel Carr
    BAR Book Forum: Short Meditations on Christina Sharpe’s “In the Wake”
    07 Apr 2021
    Being in the wake, in the afterlives of slavery…is to be caught in the reverberating aftermath of a long disaster, a durational dance with danger, with terror.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us