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

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
Stephen Millies
The War Against Black Workers
04 March 2026
Black workers built a strong U.S. labor movement.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: Resurrection City: The Dream…The Accomplishments, Jesse Jackson, 1968
18 February 2026
“The Poor People’s Campaign is the greatest single challenge ever unleashed upon our colonial system.”
Mark P. Fancher
A Role for Africans In Exile: “Revolutionaries at Large”
21 January 2026
Africans in the U.S. must weaponize their position and sabotage imperial projects from the inside.

More Stories


  • Black Alliance For Peace
    NO TO FOREIGN MILITARY INTERVENTION IN HAITI! YES, TO HAITIAN SELF-DETERMINATION!
    02 Oct 2024
    The Black Alliance for Peace stands against the continued attempts to pursue U.N. occupation in Haiti and calls on people of conscience to support the Haitian people in the struggle to achieve true…
  • Julia Wright , Jenipher R. Jones, Esq.
    Statement by Julia Wright, Liaising for the Mumia Abu-Jamal International Collectives & the Leonard Peltier Official Ad Hoc Committee Bandung of the North Conference 2024
    02 Oct 2024
    The Bandung of the North Conference brought delegates from twenty-nine African and Asian nations, to work collectively toward decolonization. Julia Wright and Jenipher R. Jones delivered these…
  • Ali Abunimah
    Hasan Nasrallah Died on the Road to Liberate Palestine
    02 Oct 2024
    Israel's recent assassination of Hasan Nasrallah came as part of a terroristic campaign it unleashed on Lebanon, culminating in the bombings that leveled whole city blocks. Shock and awe has been…
  • Travis Ross
    Imperialist feminism: Canada funds compliance from Haitian human rights groups
    02 Oct 2024
    Canada uses Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to exert soft power and maintain its interests in Haiti. Its "feminist" foreign policy promotes an imperialist neoliberal agenda that funnels money…
  • Noah Shachtman
    The Secretive Alliance Between the New York Post and Eric Adams
    02 Oct 2024
    Rupert Murdoch’s paper helped elect Adams and hasn’t quite given up on him yet.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us