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

STOP the killers!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
07 Jan 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Fisherman

Burlap bags stuffed with tuna and blue marlin.
Catch of a lifetime! Juan’s already counting the
cash in his head. Visualizing pawn shop guitar
for Gabriel, his 10 yr old son, graduating to guitar
from ukulele. Gabriel’s greeted morning rooster-
like— since age 3—  with “Let’s practice, Papa!”

Before pushing off to sea Juan bought the computer 
Rosario wished for from a journalism student he met
at the fish market training fishmongers to compute. He
also bought the bicycle Maria longed and stashed it at
a neighbor’s house. Juan was out to make his young
family’s Christmas the best ever.

BOOM!
Bloody mess below his waist. Juan’s a strong swimmer. But
he can’t feel his legs. He quickly grabs on to fiery flotsam.
Is that Javier hanging on for dear life across from him?
He hears his children’s joyful shrieks. Sees them jumping
Up and down with joy. He kisses Lourdes long and tenderly …

BOOM!
A pomade man has amplified orders of
his demented Don into “Kill them all!”
Laughing, they dub it  a “double-tap 
strike —”
like some cool dance step
signaling mad moves to come …


© 2026. 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.

Venezuela
imperialism
US Military
Military aggression
extrajudicial killings
Caribbean

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


Related Stories

x
Orinoco Tribune
Venezuela Rejects CIA Award Rumors While President Maduro’s Son Sparks Backlash Over Comments Suggesting to Resume Diplomatic Ties with ‘Israel’
21 January 2026
Venezuela's official stance remains one of principled anti-imperialism.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Breaking the Silence Revisited: Gaza, Venezuela, and the Enduring Relevance of Dr. King’s Critique of Empire
14 January 2026
The annual ritual of sanitizing Martin Luther King Jr.
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
The Bolivarian Legacy, from Hugo Chávez to Nicolás Maduro
14 January 2026
Attorney Dan Kovalik is an attorney representing Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Vijay Prashad , Carlos Ron
The Current Situation in Venezuela: A Government in Charge, a People Resilient
14 January 2026
While the U.S.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Venezuela 2026: Black Agenda Report Special Issue
07 January 2026
Black Agenda Report Special Issue on Venezuela.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Venezuela, Even More Than Palestine, Is the Linchpin of a Consistent Radical Left in The Era of Global Neofascism Led by the U.S.
07 January 2026
Solidarity with Palestine tests morality, but solidarity with Venezuela tests politics. The recent U.S.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: National Liberation: Categorical Imperative for the Peoples of Our Americas, Manuel Maldonado-Denis, 1982
07 January 2026
“The national independence struggles of the peoples of Our America have simultaneously been anti-imperialist struggles from Tupac Ama
The Editors
Black Agenda Report Venezuela Reading List
07 January 2026
Black Agenda Report contributors have focused analysis, reporting and interviews on Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution for many years.
Black Alliance For Peace
The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Intervention in Venezuela and Stands with the Venezuelan People in Their Resistance to U.S. Imperialist War
07 January 2026
The Black Alliance for Peace takes a clear anti-imperialist stance on U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
Luke Goldstein , Lucy Dean Stockton
Corporations Invested In Lawsuits Before Venezuela Invasion
07 January 2026
Trump’s removal of President Nicolas Maduro could tilt international court proceedings and provide a windfall to corporate plaintiffs.

More Stories


  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Breaking the Silence Revisited: Gaza, Venezuela, and the Enduring Relevance of Dr. King’s Critique of Empire
    14 Jan 2026
    The annual ritual of sanitizing Martin Luther King Jr. serves to obscure his radical anti-war politics, which are urgently needed to challenge U.S. imperialism.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Autocracy in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Eric D. Walrond, 1923
    14 Jan 2026
    “[T]he United States on March 31, 1917,...acquired the three Danish West Indian isles…subsequently rechristened “the Virgin Islands of the United States.” 
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Bolivarian Legacy, from Hugo Chávez to Nicolás Maduro
    14 Jan 2026
    Attorney Dan Kovalik is an attorney representing Colombian President Gustavo Petro. He is also author of The Plot to Overthrow Venezuela: How the US Is Orchestrating a Coup for Oil. Skyhorse…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Spinning Half-truth straw into big lie gold…
    14 Jan 2026
    "Spinning Half-truth straw into big lie gold…" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    The Domestic Global South and The Need for Climate and Environmental Internationalism
    14 Jan 2026
    True environmental liberation demands south-to-south solidarity against racial capitalism, linking the struggles of oppressed communities from Palestine to Louisiana under a shared framework of…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us