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

In the same boat?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
09 Sep 2026
🖨️ Print Article
USS Abraham Lincoln
The USS Abraham Lincoln is in extreme disrepair after a record 286-day deployment in the Middle East.

BOOM goes tuna and swordfish stuffed brown burlap bags aboard
boats blown to smithereens. Presto! Fishing is now narco-trafficking.
And this violent video game replayed on high seas with impunity is
the new normal. Same boat, different decks?

Bay Of Pigs ghost ships haunt Havana. They bring boatloads of
jet black nights. Sporadic electricity. Spoiled food. Howling bellies.
Dry mouths. Dead dialysis and cancer patients with premature babies. 
Same boat, different decks?

Boatload of bodies dubbed “dignified transfer” return home boxed and
smothered in stars and stripes. While warlords of Wall Street and Washington
do undignified transfers of trillions from our treasure to float boats
on champagne and caviar. To Epstein ports of call. Same boat, different decks?

300 supersized workdays at sea. Exhausted sailors. Minutes from madness.
Several imagine Emancipation Proclamation diving overboard from the
sewage-spewing, moldy shower, soapless, food-short ship, Abraham Lincoln. 
Same boat, different decks?

Black skull and crossbones flag flaps furiously against winds of change.
Must turn SS Cruel Corrupt Titanic-class “destroyer” around — or
run aground! Can’t vote our boat ashore no more. Must convert this ghastly
gray, bloody gunboat into MLK Dr. Che-class radical Love Boat.
US as admirals. US ordering humongous waves of organizations. US ordering
militant millions into sustained strikes, boycotts, demonstrations. MUTINY AHEAD?

© 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.

Caribbean
Iran
Middle East
Latin America
imperialism
Cuba
Blockade
US Navy
uprisings
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: Calypso as Comment, Gordon Rohlehr, 1979
21 October 2026
“So the calypso ceases to be entertainment on a trivial level and becomes a vehicle whereby the society is going back and searching f
Belen Fernandez
Israel’s Lebanese Land Grab
21 October 2026
Under the guise of a farcical “pilot zone” project to restore Lebanon’s sovereignty, Israel is pursuing a scorched-earth strategy whi
Joshua Reaves Charmelus
At the "Foro Internacional Por La Paz," delegates from around the world demand an end to US Interference in Latin America
21 October 2026
Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Honduras, Peru, and Costa Rica have all elected right-wing presidents in the past year, and most are open T
Julia Wright
Behind French uprising: Impact of de-colonialization in Global South
21 October 2026
The 2026 French uprising is a continuation of the anti-colonial struggle, rooted in the 1961 Paris massacre of Algerians and the ongoing neocol
Issa G Shivji
Positioning Pan-Africanism In The Geopolitical Turmoil
21 October 2026
As we are experiencing a world order in disorder, with war and conflagrations and a shifting balance of power, Issa Shivji calls for a Sovereig
Isaac Saney
No To Terrorism, Genocide And Imperialism: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Bombing of Cubana 455
14 October 2026
The 1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455 was part of a six-decade U.S.-orchestrated campaign of destabilization against Cuba, which has now escala
Black Alliance For Peace
The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Renewal of Neocolonial Gang Suppression Force UN Mandate in Haiti
07 October 2026
The UN's renewal of the Gang Suppression Force mandate is part of a wider hemispheric project to reassert military control across the Americas.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
An open letter to the honorable people of the United States of America
07 October 2026
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has issued a letter addressed to the American people, outlining its views on recent developments a
Cheryl LaBash
Is starvation Rubio’s only strategy? The new attack on Cuba’s private sector
07 October 2026
The Trump administration's new sanctions on Cuba, are part of a dual strategy to create unendurable hardship while simultaneously making Cuba f
Berthony Dupont
How the OAS Works for Imperialism in Haiti
07 October 2026
The armed groups in Haiti are not a spontaneous wave of banditry, but a scheme orchestrated by imperialist powers in concert with a reactionary

More Stories


  • BAP Atlanta
    ATL to GAZA: Free Palestine and Stop Cop Cities
    22 May 2024
    The violence unleashed by Zionism and US imperialism can only be combated through mass organized political activity united in a commitment to toppling these forces.
  • Illustration of Jean-Jacques Dessalines
    Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
    How The West Underdeveloped Haiti
    22 May 2024
    What are the roots of Haiti’s prolonged crisis? Haitian-American scholar Jemima Pierre takes us through the history of how the West underdeveloped the country, from French colonial looting and debt…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 17, 2024
    17 May 2024
    This week we discuss a lawsuit that seeks to force New York City to end patterns of segregation in its public school system.
  • Austin Cole
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Repression of Palestine Solidarity at Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Part 1
    17 May 2024
    Austin Cole joins us to discuss his suspension from MIT for his activity with the Palestine Solidarity Encampment and the attacks by the state. This is the first part of a two-part…
  • IntegrateNYC march in NYC
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    IntegrateNYC Lawsuit Seeks to End Segregation in New York City Schools
    17 May 2024
    Omari Soulfinger and Avery from IntegrateNYC join us from New York City to discuss a first-of-its-kind lawsuit asserting a right to an antiracist education under the New York State Constitution.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us