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


  • Forum: Rosemarie Freeney Harding and Rachel Elizabeth Harding’s “Remnants”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Rosemarie Freeney Harding and Rachel Elizabeth Harding’s “Remnants”
    19 May 2021
    There is a need and desire among folks in activist communities for resources of ritual and spiritual grounding.
  • Saying Her Name
    Heather Ann Thompson
    Saying Her Name
    19 May 2021
    Remains that were found to be those of a Black MOVE teen-ager who was killed by Philadelphia police in 1985 were treated as an anthropological specimen.
  • The Police “Just Launched a War”
    J. Lester Feder
    The Police “Just Launched a War”
    19 May 2021
    Do some, most or all US police departments have a pattern and practice of racial bias that makes them fundamentally unable to regulate themselves?
  • Alphaeus Hunton: The Unsung Valiant, by Dorothy Hunton
    Denise Lynn
    Alphaeus Hunton: The Unsung Valiant, by Dorothy Hunton
    19 May 2021
    Hunton’s devotion to peace and “mutual cooperation” came out of his understanding that “war and militarism were endemic” to capitalism.
  • Disinformation in Tigray: Manufacturing Consent For a Secessionist War
    New African Institute
    Disinformation in Tigray: Manufacturing Consent For a Secessionist War
    19 May 2021
    Corporate media in the imperial countries have spread disinformation on the real nature of the fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray state.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us