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


  • Joe Biden and Donald Trump
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Biden and Trump Debate
    05 Jul 2024
    BAR's Executive Editor, Margaret Kimberley, recently joined Political Misfits to discuss U.S. politics, including the recent presidential debate, bipartisan support of Israel, a SCOTUS ruling, and…
  • Frederick Douglass
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" read by Ossie Davis
    03 Jul 2024
    On July 5, 1852 Frederick Douglass was asked to speak on the topic of the nation’s independence celebration. Now known as What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, the speech was a stinging…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Julian Assange Freed by the Prospect of Justice
    03 Jul 2024
    After seven years of asylum in Ecuador’s embassy in London and another five years imprisoned by the United Kingdom, Julian Assange is finally a free man. The prospect of justice, of Assange…
  • Trayvon Martin and Abdulrahman al-Awlaki
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Assassinations at Home and Abroad, Jemima Pierre, 2012
    03 Jul 2024
    The US Supreme Court’s decision to grant the President of the United States “absolute immunity” merely codifies criminal behavior by all US presidents. Take, for example, Barack Obama’s assassination…
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Democrats No Longer Have an Excuse for Holding a Virtual Convention
    03 Jul 2024
    Biden’s debate meltdown has Democrats scrambling, but they no longer have an excuse for holding a virtual convention.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us