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

short school struggle poem
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
02 Mar 2022
🖨️ Print Article
short school struggle poem

                                                                                 short school struggle poem…

                                                        “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice.
                                                                            Then he made school boards.”
                                                                                       —Mark Twain

Ignoring hot tears in tones of cracking voices
Ignoring Town Black and Brown children
parents— Ignoring ravenous bodies of heroic hunger-
striking
Teachers…
Real estate-powered, battery-operated, school board
members
Voted in wee hours to close several precious schools:
capitalism’s eating children/schools/hunger strikers…

Bought and bossed board members gifted Town
Children class struggle college educations—gifted them
mass
matriculation in George Floyd Summer School for an
Arab Spring Semester—promising to last a lifetime…

© 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

San Francisco
Public Schools

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


More Stories


  • How Lebanon Exploits Migrant Workers
    Tessa Fox
    How Lebanon Exploits Migrant Workers
    09 Feb 2022
    The kafala system allows residents to bring workers into Lebanon, where they are often abused and overworked with no recourse to protection under labor laws.
  • SPEECH: (Re)Centring African Epistemologies: An Intellectual Journey, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, 2021
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: (Re)Centring African Epistemologies: An Intellectual Journey, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, 2021.
    09 Feb 2022
    Nigerian scholar Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí’s speech upon acceptance of the African Studies Association’s Distinguished Africanist Award offers an important reminder of the role of racist and sexist hie
  • The current crisis in Ukraine had its beginnings in 2014, when the U.S. allied itself with right wing, white supremacist forces to overthrow an elected government. Supposed leftists in this country were largely silent about the danger and were themselves supportive of white supremacist politics carried out by the U.S. and its NATO partners. 
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Left-Right White Solidarity Basis of Support for U.S./EU/NATO Wars on Global Humanity
    09 Feb 2022
    The current crisis in Ukraine had its beginnings in 2014, when the U.S. allied itself with right wing, white supremacist forces to overthrow an elected government.
  • Eight times the United States Has Used Biological and Chemical Weapons Since WWII
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Eight times the United States Has Used Biological and Chemical Weapons Since WWII
    09 Feb 2022
    U.S. accusations of human rights abuses elsewhere ring hollow.
  • Activist Journalist Frank Sterling on Trial
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Activist Journalist Frank Sterling on Trial
    09 Feb 2022
    A KPFA reporter experienced violent encounters with police in Antioch, California and advocates on behalf of others.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us