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

Gambling Man
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Jun 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier
Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier, son of Haitian dictator Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, is flanked by military guards as he reviews the troops at the Presidential Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: AP / Headline: People's World Archives

Even though the table’s tilted; the dice are loaded;
and the cards are marked; even though light-fingered
double-dealers declare that we “don’t have the cards;”
I’m a gambling man.
Betting on The People
everyday.

I’m a gambling man.
Betting on The People
everyday.
I’m a gambling man.
Betting on Everyday People
everyday.

I’m a gambling man.
Betting on Everyday People
everyday.
Betting on ordinary ones
doing extraordinary, all hands on deck, things.
Doing disbanding circular firing squad things.

I’m a gambling man.
Betting on ordinary ones doing extraordinary things — 
magic — magic that made Mrs. Marcos flee the Philippines
leaving behind hundreds of pairs of her pricey shoes.
Magic that lifted The Shah from peacock throne and made 
Mobutu, Batista, Baby Doc, The Samosas and Assad … disappear …


© 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.

resistance
organizing
Black Liberation
Working Class

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


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: Open Letter to Marxists, Gwendolyn M. Patton, 1975
23 September 2026
“...the science for revolutionary change…is forged by human persuasion and building social consciousness based on the class analysis
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
The Symone Sanders Minstrel Show Demonstrates the Desolation of the Black Misleadership Class
23 September 2026
Symone Sanders' interview with Hasan Piker exposed her as a bad-faith interlocutor who uses identity as a cudgel while remaining silent on the
Austin Cole
Attica Lives and Shares Lessons on Abolitionist Internationalism & Anti-Imperialist Solidarity
09 September 2026
The Attica rebellion was not only about prison "reform." The prison is the most intense expression of a system of imperialist domination that o
Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Co-Founder of Black Liberation Army, Reflects on the Legacy of Assata Shakur and Revolutionary Sacrifice
03 June 2026
On May 30, 2026, a Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Assata Shakur was held at the Riverside Church in New York City.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Malcolm X and Human Rights in the Time of Trumpism: Transcending the Masters Tools
20 May 2026
This piece was originally published in Black Agenda Report i
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
That Sunday morning Mom cried …
20 May 2026
I.I awakened early that Sunday morning. Seized time fortalking, that Sunday morning. Time for connecting.
Mark P. Fancher
If Iran has the Strait of Hormuz, What Can Black People Use for Leverage and Power?
13 May 2026
Tennessee just erased its only majority-Black voting district.
Wolfgang Bronner
Entertainment as Militarization: The Spectacle of the Super Bowl & WrestleMania in Nashville
06 May 2026
The spectacle of major sporting events does not simply distract from a city's crackdown on the working class.
Mark P. Fancher
Political Snobbery Delays Black Liberation
29 April 2026
The conditions are ripe for growing Black political consciousness, but revolutionary movements must broaden their reach to all sectors and clas
Mark P. Fancher
When Black People are Xenophobic They Risk Black Deaths in Iran
25 March 2026
Black youth fed xenophobia instead of international solidarity become military pawns who risk their own lives and their people's libe

More Stories


  • Freedom Rider: Who’s a White Supremacist?
    Margaret Kimberley , BAR editor and senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Who’s a White Supremacist?
    07 Aug 2019
    Americans have an openly racist president, racist foreign policy, racist law enforcement and racist corporate media.
  • U.S. imperial Decline and the Belt and Road Initiative: The Most Important Global Struggle of the Century
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    U.S. imperial Decline and the Belt and Road Initiative: The Most Important Global Struggle of the Century
    07 Aug 2019
    U.S. imperialism views the One Belt One Road as an existential threat to the domination and monopoly of the dollar.
  • THIS WEEK’S MASS MURDERS
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    THIS WEEK’S MASS MURDERS
    07 Aug 2019
    I just walked in the building, and I’m pissed—shaking with anger—why am I  the usual, permanent suspect, Scrutinized, looked up and down, looked at 
  • Trump’s Disavowal of White Supremacy Makes a Mockery of Antiracism—But So Does the Rest of the Political Establishment
    Crystal M. Fleming, Ph.D.
    Trump’s Disavowal of White Supremacy Makes a Mockery of Antiracism—But So Does the Rest of the Political Establishment
    07 Aug 2019
    The partisan condemnation of white supremacy that has taken shape during the Trump era has reduced anti-racist critique to political theater.
  • Tulsi Gabbard vs Google Goliath 
    Rick Sterling
    Tulsi Gabbard vs Google Goliath 
    07 Aug 2019
    Tulsi Gabbard was the most-searched person on Google during the first debate – so the giant corporation shut down her account.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us