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


  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week October 26, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week October 26, 2020
    27 Oct 2020
    The Rich Will Use Crisis to Further Immiserate Workers
  •  Towards a “De-White Supremification of Amerikkka”
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford , Lydia McCaskill
    Towards a “De-White Supremification of Amerikkka”
    26 Oct 2020
    Lydia McCaskill, a masters and doctoral student at North Carolina Central University and activist firebrand in her hometown of Gastonia, proposes a process of “de-white supremifica
  •  Malcolm X was a Black Internationalist
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford , Desmond Fonseca
    Malcolm X was a Black Internationalist
    26 Oct 2020
    Especially in the latter years of his life, Malcolm X represented “a reemergence of Black radicalism” after the suppression of the McCarthy period, said Desmond Fonseca, a PhD cand
  •  The Rich Will Use Crisis to Further Immiserate Workers
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford , Anthony Monteiro
    The Rich Will Use Crisis to Further Immiserate Workers
    26 Oct 2020
    Over half the US workforce would be “made redundant” if the Wall Street and high-tech oligarchs are allowed to restructure the economy under cover of the Covid-19-induced crisis, said Duboisian sch
  • Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly on the Necessity of Black Socialism 
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Report Presents: The Left Lens
    24 Oct 2020
    Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly on the Necessity of Black Socialism 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us