Don't Play that Song....
Don’t Sing That Song ‘bout
Bombs bursting in air,
Rocket’s red glare
Gave proof through the bus
40 children were dead.
Don’t Sing That Song
that “supports the troops”
Kicking in doors at 4AM;
Urinating on bodies
of Afghan fighters;
Defecating on
the Koran; Cutting
off ears and fingers—
Sporting them like
macabre trophies…
Don’t Sing That Song of
twilight’s last gleaming;
and perilous flight of
Hellfire Missiles from
Predator Drones—
white boy toys draining
treasure and blood:
Bankrupting us morally
Don’t Sing That Song—
‘bout a warfare state
with money for missiles,
Leaden water; collapsing
bridges; broken down
trains; Tent Cities and
citizens curled up on
cardboard—chanting,
“Spare change—
you can believe in?”
Don’t Sing That Song—
that slave masterpiece—
‘bout broad stripes on
brown backs; bright stars
in scrambled brains—Home
of the brave—gunning
down Black men in the streets
Don’t Sing That Song
Giving comfort to
War House Hitler-lovers
on Capitalist Hill,
White Supreme Court, slave
master statues, and military bases
named for confederate traitors
Don’t Sing That Song
Marvin prosecuted
for its soullessness—
Rene Marie face-
lifted with Every Voice—
as Nobel Drone Ranger
rammed her under the
bus with his Peace Prize—
Don’t Sing That Song
Jimi’s guitar tried
for war crimes at Woodstock!
Our poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.
© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
For the late Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Black music was a tool in the struggle for Black liberation, and not what it has mostly become today: a retrograde appendage to neoliberalism and white power.
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Rwanda weaponizes the Rwandan Genocide to justify its violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), just as Israel weaponizes the Holocaust to justify its violence in Gaza and the West Bank.
The visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United States highlights the role of imperialism in the genocide in Gaza.
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