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

Black Lives Matter…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Feb 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Black Lives Matter…
Black Lives Matter... / Photo: Photo: Emmett Till

B-B-B-Black Lives M-M-M-Matter…
Unless you listening to loud music;
shoveling snow; Or own a phone or car…
B-B-B-Black Lives M-M-M-Matter…
Unless you breaking up a fight; or your
brake light’s broken…

B-B-B-Black Lives M-M-M-Matter…
Unless you a Chicago child unschooled
in Mississippi apartheid; Unless you a
Man not laughing at un-funny stuff and
looking up from mud into steely blue-
grey eyes; or resisting rapists coming
for your momma, sister, daughter, wife…

B-B-B-Black Lives M-M-M-Matter…
Unless you smoking a cigarette or making
A turn; Unless you a child scoring sugary
Snacks in the Sunshine State; Unless you
unhoused and have healthy reactions to
homelessness and its insanity…any city…

B-B-B-Black Lives M-M-M-Matter…
Unless you a doctor describing decent care
to a Mengele medicine man…from your ICU
bed…
B-B-B-Black Lives M-M-M-Matter…
Unless you caught trying to breathe…
between swastika of knee-
o-teen and long white arm of the law…

© 2021. 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 https://www.youtube.com/user/zigilow

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 

white supremacy

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
Exorcising AI: The Ghost in the Machine is white “supremacy,” and it Aims to Haunt the World with Human Redundancy, Neocolonialism, and Militarism
28 October 2026
Reflections on Valerie Veatch's documentary, Ghost in the Machine.
Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
Trayvon and White Madness
21 October 2026
As Black Agenda Report is poised to celebrate its 20th anniversary, we reprint Glen Ford's commentary on the killing of Trayvon Martin and the
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
The r(AI)cial Divide of Big Tech and Data Center Buildout
14 October 2026
Artificial intelligence and hyperscale data center buildout constitute a new front of environmental racism and a project to optimize white supr
Denise Powell
A Southern Reckoning with the Medical Myth of Race as a Diagnostic Tool
30 September 2026
Race is a sociopolitical construct, not a biological truth.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Find me another 11,780 votes?
16 September 2026
Find me another 11,780 votes?Resurrection of old questions:How many jelly beans in a jar, How many bubbles in a bar of soap?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
They Wear The Masks
19 August 2026
“We wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes …” 
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Neoliberalism to Trumpism: The Re-Normalization of White Supremacy as State Ideology
29 July 2026
The crisis of late-stage capitalism has stripped away the liberal disguise and revealed white supremacy as the official ideology of t
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
LYRICS: Bicentennial Blues, Gil Scott-Heron, 1976
01 July 2026
“George Washington/Slave-owner general/Ironic that the father of this country/
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
F$$K the Fourth: Declaring Our Collective Independence from the Sinking Ship of U.S. Empire
01 July 2026
The settler colonial state is now more corrupt and more unequal than even the genocidal "founding fathers" imagined.
Elias Isquith
White supremacy and slavery: Gerald Horne on the real story of American independence
01 July 2026
It's time to revisit America's heroic creation myth and what really happened in 1776, author-historian tells Salon.

More Stories


  • Black Alliance for Peace
    Los Angeles Fires: The Santa Ana Blowback of Capitalist Climate Change Neglect
    15 Jan 2025
    The fires that have been raging in southern California for days are destroying the cities and homes of tens of thousands of people. This disaster, driven by the worsening climate crisis, is…
  • Pavan Kulkarni
    The DRC’s Historic Case Against Apple Over Blood Minerals in its Supply Chain
    15 Jan 2025
    The war-torn country has accused the US-based global tech giant of war crimes, forgery and deception by using illegally extracted and smuggled minerals in its products.
  • Janvieve Williams Comrie , Chevy Solís Acevedo
    Analysis: The Importance of Race, Class, and Territorial Sovereignty in Panama Amid Trump’s Canal Threats
    15 Jan 2025
    Before beginning his term in office, president-elect Donald Trump already proclaimed his intention to seize the Panama Canal. Understanding the importance of the canal and the history of…
  • Pavan Kulkarni
    67 Killed in Stampedes at Christmas Food Drives in Nigeria as IMF-Induced Hunger Engulfed Millions More in 2024
    15 Jan 2025
    After dozens died in stampedes, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu remarked, “We should just get on with it.” Tinubu’s IMF-prescribed policies have more than doubled food prices in the country,…
  • Ajamu Baraka on SOBH
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Ajamu Baraka on Fighting for Peace!
    15 Jan 2025
    Ajamu Baraka was a guest on the SOBH program on Press TV. He discussed his history of political organizing and activism, human rights, and the importance of the Black Radical Peace Tradition.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us