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

Our ‘democracy’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
23 Jul 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Our ‘democracy’
Our ‘democracy’

Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne-
caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who
Pay nothing for water washing their waste to sewage 
treatment plants; Roads delivering their indulgences
to gated palaces; Schools researching their earthly 
strategies for class war—and cunning space escapes!

“Our democracy:” 
Nirvana where voting’s a work day—special Olympics—
dehydrating decathlon jumping through Jim Crow hoops;
climbing confederate concertina wired walls; hurdling
Apartheid pass laws; scaling polling place pitchforks;
And vaulting oiled obstacles to $elect slippery senators, 
compromised congressmen deep in corporate pockets

“Our democracy:” 
Oz of lynch mob mad white men—lawless law enforcers—
Drunken devil assassins storming Capitalist Hill with to-
die lists half-mile long; Armed actors acting out Birth of
A Nation fantasies with impunity. Yes, “Our democracy:”
greasy-thumb superheroes, bareback, backwards on dis- 
abled donkeys braying platitudes every two-four years. 
Charlatans causing us to shudder and doubt ourselves… 

“Our democracy:”
By the power of Poetic License granted me to practice
Poetry in Empire and Golden States
hereby grant you permission to call “Our democracy” a
Corporatocracy, autocracy, kleptocracy, plutocracy—even
White minority warfare state. By the power of Poetic License
granted me to practice poetry in Empire and Golden States I
hereby grant you permission
To pimp slap and kick to the curb anyone as old as I am caught
babbling ‘bout “Our democracy…” Effective until we are freed to
Vote directly for the generals: General Atomics, General Dynamics,
General Electric, General Motors, General Mills…© 2021. 

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

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

poetry

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


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Poem for Walter Rodney, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, 1981  
11 June 2025
“any where or world where there is love there is the sky and its blue free
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise In Poetics to Ra
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Reflections after the June 12th March of Disarmament, Sonia Sanchez, 1982
18 December 2024
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Love My Black Job
11 September 2024
Love my Black Job— Black Student Union Job! Hired at L.A. City College As “The Peoples Poet!”
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Enemy of the Sun, Samih al-Qasim, 1970
29 May 2024
Read against the terrible incineration of Rafah today, this poem of resistance and refusal, by Pa
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Protest for Palestine at the White House
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Trigger Warning
22 November 2023
Trigger Warning Palestine’s the Answer— What was the Question?
Another June 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Another June 1
07 June 2023
                                       
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
16 February 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
15 July 2021
Could the pigment of your imagination cause Black magic mascots, props, sops— Black faces in high places—

More Stories


  • Election 2024
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley , Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
    Project 2025, the 2024 Election, and Political Discernment
    19 Jul 2024
    We talk to Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly about the 2024 presidential election, the controversy surrounding Project 2025, and Joe Biden’s physical health - topics worthy of discussion that must be…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Assassination Attempt on Donald Trump and Political Violence Waged by the U.S.
    17 Jul 2024
    The words “political violence” are the latest hackneyed and dishonest phrase emanating from the political class. The assassination attempt on Donald Trump was a minor affair compared to the treatment…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    TRANSCRIPT: Analyzing the Correct Method in Combating American Fascism, George Jackson, 1971
    17 Jul 2024
    Martyred Black Panther, George Jackson told us long ago that fascism has been the de facto political state of the US for some time. Today we can clearly see that both Trump and Biden are, quite…
  • Displaced people in DRC
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Israel in Palestine, Rwanda in DRC
    17 Jul 2024
    Palestinians and Congolese both find themselves victims of a genocide that they did not commit and that did not take place on their territory.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    Democratic Party Turmoil, African Americans and the Attempted Assassination of Trump
    17 Jul 2024
    Biden orders an “independent review” of the incident as the colossal security failure takes center stage.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us