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


  • BAR Book Forum: “Black Study and Abolition”
    Asha Noor
    BAR Book Forum: “Black Study and Abolition”
    02 Sep 2020
    An abolitionist frame of thought is a rebirth, a spiritual process, a painful undertaking, and an ancestral conjuring for Black and brown people.
  • BAR Book Forum: Vicky Osterweil’s “In Defense of Looting”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Vicky Osterweil’s “In Defense of Looting”
    02 Sep 2020
    Looting and rioting appear as immediately effective tactics in the struggle against whiteness, property and the police.
  • US Facilitates Arms for Killer Cops and Criminals in Haiti
    Jake Johnson
    US Facilitates Arms for Killer Cops and Criminals in Haiti
    02 Sep 2020
    Weapons are flowing to pro-regime gangsters suspected of assassinating opponents of the US-backed regime.
  • Police Kill. We March. Why?
    Mark P. Fancher
    Police Kill. We March. Why?
    02 Sep 2020
    We must instead think creatively about how to either take total community control of law enforcement as an institution or to bring about an independent, nation-building, self-governing reality.
  • A Tale of Two Teens: When White Killers Are Treated Better Than Black Victims
    Hana Kiros
    A Tale of Two Teens: When White Killers Are Treated Better Than Black Victims
    02 Sep 2020
    It’s Cowboys and Indians updated: a wicked game where Black people are seen as predators but almost always end up prey.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us