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

Summer of Soul/Summer of Struggle…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Aug 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Summer of Soul/Summer of Struggle…
Summer of Soul/Summer of Struggle…

BAR's poet in residence pays tribute to fallen Black Panther Party comrades.

Chalk silhouettes, bullet-violated bodies of

Bunchy and John—UCLA, cold Campbell Hall

floor—Punctuated January ’69…like a loud

Prelude to December’s death squad symphonies:

Silencing Chicago songs of spring; Meeting riffs of

Resistance during L. A.’s 5 hour breech birth of SWAT

Sing their names! Sing their names! Names

floating from wings of history’s stage—Names

Never too far from tips, riffs, runs of flattened

tongues of our true singers, shouters, belters…

Magic, Sly, High Priestess African rainbows

in everyday people gospel-blues-soul-funk-jazz—

in Great Black Music—Mississippi to South Africa…

Enveloping, wrapping world peoples in its broad,

Black, sweltering sonic arms—Pre-Bitch-ho/Hope-change

desert storm of white noise; pre-half century rest…

Sing their names! Sing their names! Names

floating from wings of history’s stage—Names

Never too far from tips, riffs, runs of flattened

tongues of our true singers, shouters, belters…

Sing their names! Sing ‘bout blended voices

Voted from ‘office’ with hot lead ballots—

Cast in driveway, ballroom, bedroom, motel,

Polling places! The M’s alone, loop like some

hypnotic drum machine’s licks—repeatedly

pounding trauma into wide Eyes On The Prize…

Sing their names!Sing them as rhythmic

responses to ancient calls of our organic

Leaders.

Sing them as legato ghost note tributes to

Martyrs waking our resistance with

counter melody messages to the Grassroots…

Sing their names! Sing their names! Names

floating from wings of history’s stage—Names

Never too far from tips, riffs, runs of flattened

tongues of our true singers, shouters, belters…

Names forecasting 2020 Summers of Rainbow

Resistance…

© 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished poet and performing artist, and an official of the National Writers Union. Find more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

Black Panther Party

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


Related Stories

Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Southern Panther Malik Rahim
14 May 2025
In “A Southern Panther,” movement elder Malik Rahim talks about his lifetime of battling ra
NY Panther 21
Dhoruba bin-Wahad
55th Anniversary of the NY Panther 21 Case
03 April 2024
The trial of the New York Panther 21 was the moment in the Black liberation movement that ushered in an era of intensified state repressio
Eddie Conway Tribute
Mali Collins
Eddie Conway Tribute
15 March 2023
The late Eddie Conway was a young member of the Black Panther Party who was framed for the killing of a police officer and spent more
BAR Book Forum: Interview with Akinyele Umoja
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Interview with Akinyele Umoja
08 June 2022
As part of the Black Agenda Report Book Forum, we interview scholars about a recent article they’ve written for either an academic journal or p
911 Is a Joke: Preferring to Shoot Unarmed Blacks, Cops Find It Ain't No Fun When the Rabbit Has the Gun
Jon Jeter
911 Is a Joke: Preferring to Shoot Unarmed Blacks, Cops Find It Ain't No Fun When the Rabbit Has the Gun
01 June 2022
Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) began after an LAPD raid on the Black Panthers in 1969 and spread throughout the country.
Bye, Big Sis
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Bye, Big Sis
11 May 2022
                                         
EDITORIAL: Poor Women: Pawns in the Abortion Controversy, The Black Panther, 1980
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
EDITORIAL: Poor Women: Pawns in the Abortion Controversy, The Black Panther, 1980
07 December 2021
A 1980 editorial in The Black Panther argues that the war against abortion is a bi-partisan war against poor women.
Lessons from Eldridge Cleaver and the Black Panther Party
Ahjamu Umi
Lessons from Eldridge Cleaver and the Black Panther Party
16 June 2021
Just like we glorified the black leather jackets, black berets, and guns in the 60s, we still romanticize African people with guns and mouths that
The Black Panther Party Has Never Been More Popular, but Actual Black Panthers Have Been Forgotten
Santi Elijah Holley
The Black Panther Party Has Never Been More Popular, but Actual Black Panthers Have Been Forgotten
06 May 2021
The name Black Panther is a box-office draw, but can cinematic sympathy be extended to the Panthers who are still living and breathing in this
Newly Obtained FBI Files Shed New Light on the Murder of Fred Hampton
Aaron J. Leonard and Conor A. Gallagher 
Newly Obtained FBI Files Shed New Light on the Murder of Fred Hampton
10 March 2021
That all this time later we are still learning new information about Hampton’s killing is testament to the sheer volume of the effort aimed at this

More Stories


  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 5, 2024
    05 Jul 2024
    This week, we discuss the struggle for Black political power in conservative Louisiana, and Margaret Kimberley talks about the recent debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. But first, we discuss…
  • French parliament
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The French Right are on the Rise and the Left are in Disarray
    05 Jul 2024
    Philippe Gendrault joins us to discuss the parliamentary elections in France, his home country, where the right wing is ascendant while left forces are very weak.
  • Ten Commandments
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Politics in Louisiana
    05 Jul 2024
    Kevin Griffin-Clark joins us to analyze Louisiana politics, including recently enacted legislation requiring public schools and universities to post the Ten Commandments in all classrooms.
  • Joe Biden and Donald Trump
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Biden and Trump Debate
    05 Jul 2024
    BAR's Executive Editor, Margaret Kimberley, recently joined Political Misfits to discuss U.S. politics, including the recent presidential debate, bipartisan support of Israel, a SCOTUS ruling, and…
  • Frederick Douglass
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" read by Ossie Davis
    03 Jul 2024
    On July 5, 1852 Frederick Douglass was asked to speak on the topic of the nation’s independence celebration. Now known as What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, the speech was a stinging…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us