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

2nd Amend Meant
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
26 Apr 2023
🖨️ Print Article
2nd Amend Meant
WLRN.org (Photo: Christian K. Lee)

                                                                                                                                    2nd Amend Meant

                                                                                                                  “…shotgun—shoot ‘em for he run now!”

                                                                                                                                     â€”Junior Walker

I.

Redlined, ‘white’ enclave. Un-ceded Hopewell,

Kansa, Mississippi, Missouri, Osage, Otos tribal

Land. Receiving settler soundbites of misinformation,

disinformation, 1/2 truth, big lies attached to Fox-box

IV—the prisoner trembles fearfully in padded cell of

‘Whiteness.’

Maybe he fears ghosts of gunpowder done real

estate Deals?

Maybe his MAGA-mind hears dispossessed people

pleading with him and cracker comfort tribe STOP

the chop—the so-called “tomahawk chop”—‘whites’

Insist on doing at Kansas City “Chiefs” football

games?

II.

Post-Bacon Rebellion—

2nd Amend Meant—

Every man, woman, child, cutthroat, killer,

sadist, torturer, overseer—slaver-wannabe

Infected with ‘whiteness’ could STOP you.

Question you about where you’re going…

About where you’ve been. Plantation/reservation

you’re coming from? Going to? Supposed to be on?

Blunderbuss, flintlock, musket, revolver trained on

temples—‘Whiteness’ questioned!

Questioned how dark skins got there. When they

got there. What was in their pockets? Never

questioning what makes ‘whiteness’ fear for…

sacrosanct Safety?

2nd Amend Meant—

Every man, woman, child, cutthroat, killer,

sadist, torturer, overseer-slaver wannabe

Infected with ‘whiteness’ could STOP you.

Detain you! Arrest you! Flog you! Lynch you—

come up with cruel, creative ways to crucify

or castrate you!

2nd Amend Meant—

They could cooly flex index fingers should you

Flinch!

Object!

Make eye contact! Speak when not spoken to!

Breathe when you’re not permitted to breathe!

III.

Black at wrong address, the boy was there

to pick twin brothers up. He picked up two

Bullets instead.

Had his lithe, young, gifted

Chocolate, promise-filled, bass clarinet-playing

body perforated

He knocked for an answer regarding the twins.

.32 caliber

questions tore through glass, ripped in

to his furrowed brow like a hot pin ball:

Do Black Lives really Matter? If so, how

much?

The ball bounced into a neighbor’s yard

and drew gunfire. The car turned into a

driveway and drew gunfire. The woman

approached a wrong car and drew gunfire.

Volleys of shots are 2nd Amend Meant for:

“How may I help you?”





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.

Gun violence
Second Amendment

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


Related Stories

Cartoon comic about mass shottings
Danny Shaw
Murder Thy Neighbor A Recap of Mass Shootings in 2023: An Anti-Imperialist Perspective
20 December 2023
Mass shootings have become ubiquitous in the US, as part of a gun-obsessed culture that manufactures and exports violence around the world.
Javonte Alexander (left) and Basaime Spate (right), researchers at Center for Justice Innovation.
Shannon Chaffers
Driven By Fear: Why Some Brooklyn Youth Carry Guns
25 October 2023
Tropes about violent Black youth prevail but efforts to analyze the causes of firearm use are rarely seen.
Black People, Guns, and the Troubling Reaction to Ja Morant
Gus Griffin
Black People, Guns, and the Troubling Reaction to Ja Morant
21 June 2023
Ja Morant plays basketball in Tennessee, an "open carry" state with lose firearm regulations.
Why Americans Are Shot at the "Wrong House"
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Why Americans Are Shot at the "Wrong House"
26 April 2023
People in the U.S.
Freedom Rider: Gun Violence Starts at the Top
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Freedom Rider: Gun Violence Starts at the Top
21 April 2021
If the state reserves the right to commit mass murder no one should be surprised that the people follow suit.

More Stories


  • Cira Pascual Marquina
    Bolivarian Diplomacy vs. the Monroe Doctrine: A Conversation with Carlos Ron (Part I)
    24 Jul 2024
    Venezuela’s upcoming presidential election raises the issue of US meddling in Latin America.
  • Ammiel Alcalay
    Even the US Propaganda Machine Can't Whitewash Biden's Sordid Record
    24 Jul 2024
    Sentimental tributes pour in for Biden. But from enabling genocide in Gaza to supporting the US's rich at the expense of the poor, he leaves a trail of human and economic carnage.
  • Joseph Massad
    Why blaming the Israel lobby for western Middle East policies is misguided
    23 Jul 2024
    The claim that the Israel lobby controls US policy in the Middle East amounts to absolving the US of responsibility for its imperialist policies in the Arab world.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 19, 2024
    19 Jul 2024
    This week, two scholars provide an analysis of the 2024 presidential election. We talk about Project 2025, the conservative manifesto being used to save Joe Biden’s re-election, and how it should be…
  • Trump shooting
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Biden's Weakness, His Debate with Trump, and the Assassination Attempt on Trump
    19 Jul 2024
    Dr. Anthony Monteiro joins us from Philadelphia to talk about the 2024 presidential election, the aftermath of the Trump and Biden debate, and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us