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

count ALL votes
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
27 Nov 2019
🖨️ Print Article
count ALL votes
count ALL votes

POW…POW…POW…POW…
My leaders were voted
out of office with
hot lead ballots: red
runoffs in driveways, beds,
ballroom floors, on balconies,
and college campuses.
Mentioning the masked man
the same breath’s an affront!

Now, all that remains
are sleazy senators,
corrupt congressmen—
strings showing through their
Brooks Brothers suits; as
the market’s invisible hand,
up their asses, moves
their mealy mouths

POW…POW…POW…POW…
MY leaders were voted
out of office with
hot lead ballots: red
runoffs in driveways, beds,
ballroom floors, on balconies,
and college campuses.
Mentioning the masked man
the same breath’s an affront!

Now, all that remains
are sleazy senators,
corrupt congressmen—
strings showing through their
Brooks Brothers suits; as
the market’s invisible hand,
up their asses, moves
their mealy mouths—
POW…POW…POW…POW…
count ALL the muthafukkkin’ votes…

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com .

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

Black Misleadership Class

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


Related Stories

Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
In its Lynching of the Voting Rights Act, Did SCOTUS Just Do Us A Favor By Elucidating the Lies of “America?”
06 May 2026
The Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v.
Mark P. Fancher
Political Snobbery Delays Black Liberation
29 April 2026
The conditions are ripe for growing Black political consciousness, but revolutionary movements must broaden their reach to all sectors and clas
Anthony Rogers-Wright
Preserving the Legacy of Martin Luther King and The Black Radical Tradition Requires Saving Both from the Congressional Black Caucus More than from white moderates and white supremacists (Or, I said what I said)
21 January 2026
Preserving the Black Radical Tradition demands struggle not only against white supremacists, but also against the co-opted Black political clas
X
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Fighting Trump and the Black Collaborators Too
24 September 2025
Fighting Trump’s racist attacks is obviously a necessity but that fight must include opposing the Black misleadership class and their
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Super Predators, Born Criminals, and the Black Misleadership Class
10 September 2025
The treachery of the Black misleadership class knows no bounds.
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Katrina: The Rich Folks' Opportunity and Our Dismal Failure
27 August 2025
"Racism showed its ass in the days after August 29, 2005."
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Epitomizes Black Misleadership
20 August 2025
Mayor Bowser going along to get along with Donald Trump is unsurprising to anyone who has followed her political career.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Charles Rangel and the End of Black Politics
28 May 2025
The late Charles Rangel served as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus for more than 40 years.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Temerity, Tartuffery, and Toxic Identity Reductionism…the Latest Democrat Party Hoggwash
21 May 2025
The Democratic Party would rather silence critics like Hogg than fix its own rot.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Graylan Hagler: Capitulation Masquerading as Political Thought
30 April 2025
Liberals continue to condemn anyone who didn’t support Kamala Harris and the latest iteration of neo-liberal treachery.

More Stories


  • Roger D. Harris
    US Human Rights Report on Venezuela Doesn’t Pass the Mirror Test
    20 Aug 2025
    The U.S. State Department's latest human rights report on Venezuela follows a familiar pattern of lying about a nation declared to be an adversary while human rights in the U.S. are violated in a…
  • Frances Madeson
    “Defeatism Has No Place” in Liberation Struggles, Frantz Fanon’s Daughter Says
    20 Aug 2025
    For Black August, Mireille Fanon Mendès-France sets the record straight on her father’s revolutionary legacy.
  • Gary Wilson
    The Alaska summit and the crumbling proxy war in Ukraine
    20 Aug 2025
    Washington's strategy of endless war in Ukraine is collapsing under its own weight. The Alaska summit isn't a victory for diplomacy but a stark admission of its defeat.
  • State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China
    Full text: The Report on Human Rights Violations in the United States in 2024
    20 Aug 2025
    A new report from Beijing reveals the hypocrisy of U.S. human rights rhetoric, revealing a nation where gun violence, political corruption, and poverty are not anomalies but features of a broken…
  • Mohammed El-Kurd
    Guilty by Affiliation
    13 Aug 2025
    The Israeli murder of heroic Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif was bookended by accusations that he was part of Hamas. For many of our allies, the instinct is to prove his innocence by proving…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us