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 …

© 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

Jeremy Scahill , Jawa Ahmad
Exclusive: Internal Documents Show Trump’s “Board of Peace“ Moving to Crush Palestinian Self-Determination
24 June 2026
Gaza proposals obtained by Drop Site show Trump’s board attempting to force a Palestinian surrender that Israel could not achieve in war.
Ramzy Baroud
Why Didn’t Iran Put Gaza on the Table? A Difficult Answer
03 June 2026
From Gaza to Tehran, from the politics of resistance to the limits of regional diplomacy, a pressing question has resurfaced amid the 2026 war:
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: The Palestine Question: Background and Solution, Edward Atiyah, 1946
20 May 2026
“It is impossible to make a national home for one people in a country inhabited by another, except by dislodging the latter.”
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Regarding Nuclear War Between Israel and Iran
15 April 2026
The political fallout from Trump’s recklessness in West Asia continues around the globe, while some wonder how far the radioactive fa
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
What is the 'Left' in the Era of Global Fascism
18 March 2026
There is no coherent and sustained leftist movement at the very moment that U.S. led global fascism is accelerating.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
The Light of Palestine Will Lead the Way to Global Liberation
18 March 2026
Black Agenda Report Editor and Columnist, Ajamu Baraka, recently gave a presentation at the 4th International Conference “Palestine: The Nation
Joseph Massad
Who threatens the Arab world: Iran or the US and Israel?
18 March 2026
It should be clear to Gulf Arab states hosting US bases that the American presence does not protect them but instead places them in danger.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Everything they touch turns to rubble
11 March 2026
Saddest symphony on Earth. Trembling notes, harrowing screams, wails,moans. Same timbre, same tones. Same saline Palestine tears as Sudan.
Faris Giacaman
Israel is using the ‘Gaza doctrine’ in Lebanon and Iran
11 March 2026
For years, Israel used the “Dahiya doctrine” in Gaza. Now it’s using the “Gaza doctrine” in Dahiya — and Tehran.
Pambazuka News Editors
The Global African Implications of US-Israel Aggression towards Iran
11 March 2026
Global Africa must oppose military aggression.

More Stories


  • Black Agenda Radio
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , Austin Cole
    The Black Alliance for Peace Calls for a Boycott of the World Cup
    17 Jun 2026
    The Black Alliance for Peace and other organizations have called for a boycott of the 2026 World Cup being held in the United States. Before any matches were played, the U.S. banned players, fans,…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Knicks and New York's Disappearing Black Communities
    17 Jun 2026
    It is true that the New York Knicks' journey to a championship brought disparate communities together, but gentrification remains the norm in the city that is the capital of capital. Black people are…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Reconstruction, Seventy-Five Years After, W. E. B. Du Bois, 1943
    17 Jun 2026
    “Without the help of the American Negro, the abolition movement would have been impossible.”
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    “Don’t Worry Be Happy”: The World Cup as an International Psy-Op
    17 Jun 2026
    FIFA uses the World Cup to present the United States as a legitimate nation, but the U.S. is a rogue state committing crimes against humanity. The call for a boycott is a call to decolonize football…
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    When the Revolution Comes
    17 Jun 2026
    Chris Smalls and his best friend, Derrick Palmer, led the first successful drive to unionize an Amazon warehouse. He believes that labor must decouple from the Democratic Party, as he explains in his…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us