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

Club None Long To Belong To…*
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
30 Nov 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Club None Long To Belong To…*

                                                                                         Club None Long To Belong To…*

 

No proof of residency, utility bills, bank

or vaccination records or two pieces of ID

Needed.

No bios, resumes, CVs, credit scores, or

References required.

No decoder rings/secret handshakes used.

No gifts given to joiners. No monthly news

letters.

No Mickey Mouse Club; Book Club; Buyers

Club or Nightclub.

Lifetime Membership Club: struggling to stay

exclusive—Fighting to keep others out…

Members instantly earn seasoned ears; helping

hands; broad shoulders; steadfast instruction in

Hugging.

Members learn when to call. What to say. When

to say it. When to feed/text/tweet—And when to

Shut the fuck up…

Monthly membership dues include sleepless

nights; ulcers; cancer; stroke; heart attack;

depression; divorce; anger and isolation.

Smells, songs, snacks, words re-stimulate

salinity, helping trace bitter tracks of members’

Tears…as they cry themselves to sleep nightly…

Members remember ‘The Call’ admitting them

to The Club as though nano seconds ago…

remember robotic motions/silent shrieks…

Birthdays/death dates still stir tsunamis of tears…

Death certificates double as membership cards bearing

“Justifiable Homicide” hashtags sanctioned by the

state

Members remember sweetness, savoriness of eats. Re

member fuzziness—foggy flashbacks—chuckles and

belly laughs…

Members remember surreality/shock and awe;

remember distrusting ears—

demanding— “Stop joking!!!” “Stop playing around!!!!”

Members remember automated voices—cold calls of

Strange Fruit messengers—remember ‘grapevine’ voices

and

poison penned/murder mouthed Fox-box foot soldiers digging

dirt—covering up crimes of testi-lying triggermen…

Members Remember…

pithy politicians’ semiautomatic… “…thoughts and prayers…”

Members remember fiery pulpits falling silent. Remember

teddy bears, liquor bottles, candles, hand-lettered signs, T

shirt likenesses and “say their names” strangers

going poof. Members remember Mr. Pain, Ms. Emptiness, Mr. McGrief

and No Getting Over It Crew…hanging out as house guests: Overseeing

State machine accountants and lawyers determining how much, if any,

Black Lives Matter…

*Inspired by groups of grieving parents witnessing for the world…



 

Police
Police Killings
Police brutality

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


More Stories


  • AFRICOM and the Guise of Terrorism
    Tunde Osazua
    AFRICOM and the Guise of Terrorism
    15 Jul 2020
    If AFRICOM’s mission is to fight terrorism, then why have terror attacks increased five-fold since the US began its military occupation of the continent?
  • Shelter in Race-Class Place
    Paul Street
    Shelter in Race-Class Place
    15 Jul 2020
    Black Americans are told to shelter in savagely unequal places where the necessities of life are scarce and Covid-19 is most lethal.
  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    15 Jul 2020
    This week you had the Democratic Party, Libertarianism, and Native American relations with African Americans on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: “Black Study and Abolition”
    Jade Bentil
    BAR Book Forum: “Black Study and Abolition”
    15 Jul 2020
    The books in focus explore the ways an anti-black world tries to interdict the possibilities of Black life, and how Black people resist and overcome such assaults.
  • BAR Book Forum: Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law’s “Prison By Any Other Name”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law’s “Prison By Any Other Name”
    15 Jul 2020
    Increased police technology, increased training and “community policing” tend to actually expand instead of decreasing policing.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us