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


  • Trinidad and Tobago
    Clau O'Brien Moscoso , Erica Caines
    Trinidad and Tobago in the Crosshairs of U.S. Imperialism
    19 Nov 2025
    Sariyah Mohammad of Trinbago for Palestine and David Abdulah of the Movement for Social Justice joined National Co-Coordinator Erica Caines and Haiti/America Team Co-Coordinator Clau O'Brien Moscoso…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Eric Adams, Zionism, and Pre-Emptive Strikes Against Mamdani
    19 Nov 2025
    Eric Adams, New York City’s blustering and corrupt outgoing mayor, is working with his allies to undermine mayor elect Zohran Mamdani in a blatant power grab and a violation of all norms of democracy.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Europe's Other Self, Stuart Hall, 1991
    19 Nov 2025
    “The story of European identity is often told as if it had no exterior.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Somalia: Farmaajo Returns
    19 Nov 2025
    Farmaajo, a hugely popular Somali politician who has never been favored by the US, is widely expected to seek the presidency in Somalia’s 2026 election.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Day 40-something pedophile-protecting government shutdown
    19 Nov 2025
    "Day 40-something pedophile-protecting government shutdown" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us