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


  • The American Empire Has No Clothes
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The American Empire Has No Clothes
    20 Jul 2022
    The U.S. is empire is in a state of crisis, creating chaos around the world and contradicting its own goals.
  • The PAIGC’s Political Education for Liberation in Guinea-Bissau, 1963–74 (Part 1)
    The Tricontinental
    The PAIGC’s Political Education for Liberation in Guinea-Bissau, 1963–74 (Part 1)
    20 Jul 2022
    Liberation struggles are not fought only on the battlefield. The African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) left a legacy of educational decolonization.
  • Congresswoman Karen Bass and the Will to Intervene
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Congresswoman Karen Bass and the Will to Intervene
    20 Jul 2022
    Congresswoman Karen Bass is running for mayor of Los Angeles. She's also Vice Chair of the NED, the CIA's soft power arm. She epitomizes everythng that is wrong with the Black political class.
  • Black Agenda Radio July 15, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 15, 2022
    15 Jul 2022
    The 55th anniversary of the Newark, New Jersey rebellion, how the child welfare system damages Black children and families, and how the United Nations creates suffering in Haiti.
  • 55th anniversary of the Newark, New Jersey Rebellion
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    55th anniversary of the Newark, New Jersey Rebellion
    15 Jul 2022
    On July 12, 1967, a five-day long rebellion took place in Newark, New Jersey. We speak to Larry Hamm, President of the Newark based Peoples Organization for Progress, which is commemorating the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us