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

Poor Peoples’ March
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
22 Jun 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Poor Peoples’ March
Rev. Ralph Abernathy leads the Poor People's March from Resurrection City to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, June 24, 1968.

                                                                                                                   Poor Peoples’ March

                                                                                                “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”  

                                                                                                                            —Aristotle

Rainbow drum majors

arrived down from broken

hearted Buffalo—up from

Uvalde—Down south; Out

south; Up south. Trekkers,

drivers, flyers, bus riders arrived.

Essential Workers—a few months

ago; for a minute—arrived from their

robotic jobs…Over-worked/underpaid.

Children from COVID-canceled families

Arrived. Food workers on blistered, swollen

feet and un-operated on knees arrived.

Toilers under poverty’s knee and low-wealth’s

swastika-tatted arm arrived.

Grassroots, salt of the earth, everyday people

arrived.

Hurt first/hurt worst Black, Brown, Indigenous

impacted people arrived.

Inflation-riddled poverty scholars from food

apartheid bantustans arrived.

Labor’s soldiers, siloed sea to shiny sea, arrived.

Standing shoulder to shoulder Juneteenth

on un-ceded Anacostan Ancestral land, galvanizing,

mobilizing—flashing glimpses of 30s/60s greatness

from Arab Spring, Occupy, George Floyd Summer,

Strike-tober reflections…

Carving cursive initials in granite of a 100 year-old

Healthcare for ALL fight…

© 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 and PayPal.

 

Poor People's Campaign
Poor People's March

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


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: Resurrection City: The Dream…The Accomplishments, Jesse Jackson, 1968
18 February 2026
“The Poor People’s Campaign is the greatest single challenge ever unleashed upon our colonial system.”
The Poor People's Campaign and the Moral Dilemma of Liberalism
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
The Poor People's Campaign and the Moral Dilemma of Liberalism
04 May 2022
The demands for justice at home and abroad must not be sacrificed on the altar of what is called pragmatism.

More Stories


  • 87% of Service Workers in the US South Were Injured on the Job Last Year
    Peoples Dispatch
    87% of Service Workers in the US South Were Injured on the Job Last Year
    12 Apr 2023
    Southern service workers allege that South Carolina’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration discriminates against Black workers.
  • Sub-Imperialism and Multipolarity: Brazil’s Dilemma
    Justin Podur
    Sub-Imperialism and Multipolarity: Brazil’s Dilemma
    12 Apr 2023
    Brazil is an example of a nation that plays a role in accelerating multipolarity while simultaneously taking part in sub-imperialist acts of aggression.
  • The U.S. Pushes Kiev Into a Suicidal Military Counter Offensive As the Country Scrambles to Launch Its Vital Grain Growing Season
    Dmitriy Kovalevich
    The U.S. Pushes Kiev Into a Suicidal Military Counter Offensive As the Country Scrambles to Launch Its Vital Grain Growing Season
    12 Apr 2023
    U.S. imperialism demands a fight until the last Ukrainian. The proxy war continues to devastate the people of Ukraine.
  • Black Agenda Radio April 7, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio April 7, 2023
    07 Apr 2023
    In this segment, we have special coverage of the recent launch of the Black Alliance for Peace Zone of Peace campaign.
  • Margaret Kimberley Remarks at Chicago Area Peace Action Peace Summit
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Margaret Kimberley Remarks at Chicago Area Peace Action Peace Summit
    07 Apr 2023
    Margaret Kimberley gave the keynote address at the Chicago Area Peace Action Peace Summit.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us