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

Erehwon (Shangri La Utopia)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Feb 2025
🖨️ Print Article
AI generated image of Gaza
AI generated image of Gaza found in Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu's proposal for Gaza

Baby, baby, sign our contract on
Land
Baby, baby, sign our contract on
Land

Sign it—sign it—sign it—Oooh:
It's the humane thing to do
Land without people, for people with-
Out enough land in their fat portfolios!

With crimson-stained crypto-money, we’ll
Remake it into a Land Of Milk And Honey—
Riviera Of The Middle East—
Go live your shortened lives out in peace …

Phenomenal waterfront property!
A beautiful place. Billionaire base.
On our way to space! Prime real estate!
No need to wait … Make Amerikkka Grate!

We’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.
Send you photos, videos, of luxury condos.
Just sign on the line. It’s temporary! It’s voluntary!
Ask Apache, Comanche; ask Cherokee, Cheyenne.

It’s temporary! It’s voluntary!
Be just like ’48— Until we do 2 State!
Ask Ohlone; ask Lakota, Iroquois;
Ask Sioux, Shoshone, Seminole, Navajo.

Abra-Cadaver! Bodies buried beneath the
Rubble will disappear in a day. Undergird
Hotel parking lots. Hey, come on, abandon those
Terrible tents— And collect astronomical rents!

Hocus-Pocus! We’ll create jobs. Good jobs. See the
9th hole over there! Golf balls on tees—Just toss
Us your keys …
Your uncles, your daddies, will make great caddies!
Alakazam! Pulverized concrete, busted buildings,
Rebar snaking to the stars will vanish! Disappear.
Go away. Become plush casinos for hi-roller
Gambling! Be like Cuba— before the revolution!

No more Nakbas! Won’t suffer no more. No more
Rubble. Big opportunity. Great chance to earn!
No more worry ‘bout the Right of Return! Just toss
Us those keys. Just sign on the line. Erase yourself!

Fuhgeddabout the olive trees. Just pack up and toss us the keys.
Presto! No more Skunk water! No Caterpillars bulldozing your
Homes. No 2000 lb. bombs dropped on your babies … We’ll even
Clean up unexploded bombs—Address your qualms—Prevent pogroms!

No more Nakbas … No more Trails of Tears … No more crazy,
Crisscrossing checkpoints and roads you can’t travel. No more
Hospitals and bakeries bombed. No more universities leveled.
No more mosques razed. Erase yourself. Just leave us the land!

Just self deport. It’s voluntary! It’s temporary!
In the name of the Riviera Of The Middle East—
Exodus! And live long shortened lives out in peace … This will be a
Land Of Milk And Honey/of Crypto funny money— called Erehwon …

Š 2025. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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.

Gaza
Palestine
ethnic cleansing

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


Related Stories

Ali Abunimah
Israel’s “opposition” offers genocide with better PR
04 November 2026
Israel's election produced no real alternative for Palestinians, because every Zionist party from Eisenkot's Yashar to Golan's Democrats shares
Coleen Littlejohn
NicaNotes: Historic Solidarity between Nicaragua and Palestine
28 October 2026
Coleen Littlejohn presente!
Belen Fernandez
Israel’s Lebanese Land Grab
21 October 2026
Under the guise of a farcical “pilot zone” project to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty, Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth strategy whi
Gerald Perreira
October 7, 2023: The day that changed the world
21 October 2026
October 7, 2023, was not an isolated attack, but the culmination of generations of Palestinian imprisonment and resistance in Gaza, comparable
Edward Rhymes
What Changes For Palestine?
21 October 2026
Disregard for Palestinian rights is a feature of Israeli politics rather than a bug.
Dr. M. Reza Behnam
Three Years of Genocide: How ‘Never Again’ Lost Meaning in Gaza
07 October 2026
If international law and justice are buried in the rubble of Gaza, the global community will ultimately be digging its own grave.
Sami Al-Arian
Why Hamas believed the status quo was more dangerous than its 7 October gamble
07 October 2026
Three years into Israel's genocide in Gaza, the consequences of a decision driven by siege, settlement expansion, and assaults on Al-Aqsa are s
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Defending a Non-Existent International Law
30 September 2026
The Hague Group’s goal is to “. . .
Roberta Rivolta
Western Activism and the Axis of Resistance
23 September 2026
Western pro-Palestinian activism isolates Palestine from its regional allies, depoliticizing its struggle and reinforcing colonial
Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Guardian Foray: All That's Not Real Is Camouflage
09 September 2026
An Open Letter from the American "Left" allegedly on behalf of unnamed persons said to be Iranian political prisoners has provided co

More Stories


  • Is the Apartheid Colonial Settler State of Israel “Reparations” For Jews? ADOS Thinks So.
    Bruce A. Dixon , BAR managing editor
    Is the Apartheid Colonial Settler State of Israel “Reparations” For Jews? ADOS Thinks So.
    19 Apr 2019
    ADOS stands for American Descendants of Slaves, a group founded by Yvette Carnell and Antonio Moore, supposedly advocates of reparations for the descendants of Africans enslaved in the US.
  • Terri Sewell, the Worst of the Black Caucus, Subverts $15 Wage Bill
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Terri Sewell, the Worst of the Black Caucus, Subverts $15 Wage Bill
    18 Apr 2019
    Selma, Alabama, has produced the most reactionary Black Congressperson in modern times, part of the Democratic Party’s increasing servitude to corporate interests.
  • American Muslim children
    Raymond Nat Turner , BAR poet-in-residence
    for Ayat
    17 Apr 2019
    Hey Ayat, we were an odd couple, haunting the library for magical books, deciding how and where we wanted to work… Our symbiosis Your linguistic ticket to
  • 19th century cotton pickin
    This Is Hell , Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    We Must Have a Demand: Towards a Transformative, Black-Led Reparations Movement.
    17 Apr 2019
    Glen Ford explores the possibilities of reparations, and the limits of the Democratic party's racial politics - as 2020 presidential hopefuls advance insufficient reparations schemes to court Black
  • Freedom Rider: The “Resistance” is Silent on Julian Assange
    Margaret Kimberley , BAR editor and senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: The “Resistance” is Silent on Julian Assange
    17 Apr 2019
    Liberals are just as much true believers in imperialism as the right wing they claim to oppose.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us