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

How will we pay for it?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Jan 2022
🖨️ Print Article
How will we pay for it?
M. Wuerker POLITICO Universal Uclick

                                                                                            How will we pay for it?

How will we pay for it?
How will we pay for it:
59 missile shooting spree—
$110, 000 a pop?
Mother Of All Bombs?
A boondoggle bomber?
800 bases in faraway places?
States with more warheads than congress members? A modern-medieval torture
chamber on foreign soil? A weapons lab disguised as an apartheid state?

How will we pay for it?
How will we pay for it:
Surgical strikes on hospitals—
renaming babies Collateral Damage?
Orders to “Light ‘em up!”?
Lethal gifts dropped on wedding parties?
‘Taking out’ other nations’ generals?
Swapping strongmen for wrong men?

How will we pay for it?
How will we pay for it:
Drinking water juiced with jet fuel?
Freedom to breathe blue-black air?
Fracking fluid flavored springs?
Freedom of fires gorging themselves year round?
Freedom of floods to wash away labor’s fruits?

It’s not neurosurgery or rocket science—
and I’m no genius but— I know-I know
I know-I know-I know-I know-I know-I know…
I know-I know-I know-I know-I know-I know…
Tents, tarps, cardboard mattresses—cancer,
Diabetes, tooth decay are one way we pay—
Feel free to fill in anything I’ve missed…
 

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet;  BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at:  

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Military Industrial Complex

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


Related Stories

Biden has Money for War, but Not for the Poor
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Biden has Money for War, but Not for the Poor
23 March 2022
Joe Biden and congress have plenty of money for the military industrial complex, but only austerity for the people.
US War Lobby Fuels Conflict in Russia, Ukraine, and Syria: Ex-Pentagon Advisor
Aaron Maté
US War Lobby Fuels Conflict in Russia, Ukraine, and Syria: Ex-Pentagon Advisor
12 January 2022
A former senior advisor at the Pentagon confirms what was obvious to those who pay attention.
Raytheon’s Raven caws “War—Evermore!” Not wind beneath Negroz wings…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raytheon’s Raven caws “War—Evermore!” Not wind beneath Negroz wings…
29 September 2021
Afghan Crisis Must End America’s Empire of War, Corruption and Poverty
Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies  
Afghan Crisis Must End America’s Empire of War, Corruption and Poverty
01 September 2021
The U.S.

More Stories


  • Black People Used to Attack Revolutionary Governments
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Black People Used to Attack Revolutionary Governments
    12 Apr 2023
    The question of how Black people fare in a particular country can be a legitimate issue or a ruse used in the furtherance of U.S. regime change plots. 
  • SPEECH: Forge Negro-Labor Unity for Peace and Jobs, Paul Robeson, 1950
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: Forge Negro-Labor Unity for Peace and Jobs, Paul Robeson, 1950
    12 Apr 2023
    Paul Robeson’s 1950 speech to the delegates of the National Labor Conference for Negro Rights should remind us that there is no Black liberation struggle without the Black working masses.
  • US Still Imposing Illegal, Unilateral Economic Sanctions on Eritrea
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    US Still Imposing Illegal, Unilateral Economic Sanctions on Eritrea
    12 Apr 2023
    Yemane Ghebreab, advisor to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, explains how US economic sanctions impact the Eritrean people.
  • Blues for Boss Tweet
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Blues for Boss Tweet
    12 Apr 2023
                                                           …
  • BAR Book Forum: Camilla A. Hawthorne’s Book, “Contesting Race and Citizenship”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Camilla A. Hawthorne’s Book, “Contesting Race and Citizenship”
    12 Apr 2023
    This week’s featured author is Camilla A. Hawthorne. Hawthorne is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at UC Santa Cruz. Her book is Contesting Race and Citizenship: Youth Politics in…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us