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

One Spring Day …
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
09 Apr 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Mass protest

“I believe there is yet a spirit of resistance z
in this country, which will not submit
 to be oppressed …”  —The Letters of Junius

One Spring day— 1st 100 daze— of
Scales slowly slipping from sleepy eyes …
One Spring day worth four drowsy years of
Billionaire business as usual …

One Spring day, our streets are rivers of
Resistance—tinged ferocious and festive!
Resistance enriched with cleverly crafted
Signs, piercing slogans, random acts of solidarity!

One Spring day, shoring up stainless steel spines
Rehabbing hearts— beyond 2/4 beats of braying
Donkey and trumpeting elephant $campaign-$election
Cycles of war, doom, gloom— And warp speed fascism.

One Spring day, checking blood pressure, measuring
Body mass index— And diagnosing just
How rapidly our class hatred of parasitic, champagne-
Caviar Cayman Island crowds is metastasizing …

One Spring day, dreaming of the world we want to
See. Smell. Taste. Touch. Rejecting transplanted South
African strains of nazism— Embedded in hi-tech trinkets—
Along with 16th century sentiments …

One Spring day, sweet resistance wrapped in ‘good trouble!’
One Spring day to play.  And, work at re-
Connecting connective tissue to class-calls: “Workers of the
World, Unite!”

© 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.

Working Class
resistance
revolution

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


Related Stories

Jon Jeter
From Cadillac-Driving Welfare Queens to Xbox-Playing Slackers, the Oligarchs Vilify Others for Their Own Larceny
09 July 2025
America’s ruling class keeps inventing new boogeymen to disguise its endless war on workers, while wealth flows upward and capitalism’s collaps
Community Movement Builders - Newark
CMB Newark Statement on the Delaney Hall Uprising
18 June 2025
When oppression becomes unbearable, resistance erupts.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Solidarity Against ICE and the Entire State Apparatus
11 June 2025
Popular resistance against the Trump administration in Los Angeles and other cities is a very positive
Struggle La Lucha
ICE Raids Escalate in LA As Community Fights Back
11 June 2025
While ICE and law enforcement unleash raids across LA, protesters stand firm, exposing the brutal machinery of deportation and the state’s viol
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
One Big Beautiful Bank Job!
28 May 2025
Masked. Armed to the teeth. Synchronized
Louisiana Workers Council
Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful’ Cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and More
28 May 2025
Following is a fact sheet about how Trump’s “big beautiful” budget bill cuts essential services and benefits for workers to give to the wealthy
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
DOGE— Department Of Grifter Enrichment
07 May 2025
“Empathy is the bane of western civilization.” 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
March, March, March… (For Million Worker March and Brother Ray Quan)
30 April 2025
1. Dust dances on sunbeams streaming through busted eyes; Lunch bucket language no longer lingers
Jocelyn Figueroa
Working Homeless People: Laboring Without a Roof
23 April 2025
For millions, a job is no longer enough to afford housing—yet the myth that homeless people don’t work still dominates public opinion.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: Armed Struggle: Natural Response to Fascism, Martin Sostre, 1975
02 April 2025
“The question now is: What are we going to do about this murderous fascism?”

More Stories


  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio November 7, 2025
    07 Nov 2025
    In this week’s segment, we examine claims of a genocide against Christians in the African nation of Nigeria, and the geopolitical strategems behind the narrative. But first, we discuss the election…
  • Zohran Mamdani
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Zohran Mamdani and the Left
    07 Nov 2025
    Lance Hawkins joins us from New York City to discuss the recent election of Zohran Mamdani, who will take office as the mayor of New York City on January 1. Lance Hawkins is a community, labor, and…
  • Nigerian Newspapers
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Major Power Politics, Rare Earth Minerals, and Claims of Genocide in Nigeria
    07 Nov 2025
    David Hundeyin is a Nigerian investigative journalist, bestselling author, and founder of West Africa Weekly, an independent Pan-African digital news publication focusing on West Africa and the Sahel…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Zohran Mamdani and a Small Victory for the People
    05 Nov 2025
    New Yorkers experienced some democracy with Zohran Mamdani's victory in the mayor's race and are inspiring voters across the country to believe that change is possible. But the outcome is a challenge…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: Blacks in Brazil: An Interview with Lélia Gonzalez, 1980
    05 Nov 2025
    “Black Brazilians have been suffering … since the establishment of slavery more than 400 years ago.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us