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

Play, Black Girl, play! (For the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music’s girls)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 Mar 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Nina Simone

“The music is the magic through a raging storm …” 

— Abbey Lincoln

Play, Black Girl, play —
Play your piano, now
Come, now, let Sister-
Master show you how

Play, Black Girl, play —
Play your hot saxophone
On shoulders of giants
You don’t stand alone …


© 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.

Music
Black children
culture
Oakland
Black Women

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Declaration of Independence (for Donald "Duck" Bailey)
15 July 2026
Drummer men, drummer men, fluid loose-limbed rhythm-masters, were you born free?Did you drum? Did you drum? Did you drum
Photo: Kevin W. Thorbourne
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)
08 September 2021
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)  
BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s "No Mercy Here"
Marisa Fuentes
BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s "No Mercy Here"
06 May 2020
This is a book about the ideological construction of black women as “non-human” and exploitable for capitalist profit in the making of the New Sout

More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Camilla A. Hawthorne’s Book, “Contesting Race and Citizenship”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Camilla A. Hawthorne’s Book, “Contesting Race and Citizenship”
    12 Apr 2023
    This week’s featured author is Camilla A. Hawthorne. Hawthorne is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at UC Santa Cruz. Her book is Contesting Race and Citizenship: Youth Politics in…
  • The Response To Twitter Labeling NPR "State-Affiliated Media" Exposes The True Purpose Of The Labels All Along
    Jacqueline Luqman
    The Response To Twitter Labeling NPR "State-Affiliated Media" Exposes The True Purpose Of The Labels All Along
    12 Apr 2023
    Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently became the broken clock that is right twice a day when he correctly pointed out the NPR and the BBC are state affiliated outlets. Corporate media work hand in hand with…
  • Misleadership in the Bronx: AOC, the Fraud Squad, Military Recruiters and U.S. Imperialism
    Richie Merino , Danny Shaw
    Misleadership in the Bronx: AOC, the Fraud Squad, Military Recruiters and U.S. Imperialism
    12 Apr 2023
    Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the best known of the so-called progressives. Her leftist image is a pose which intentionally creates political confusion.
  • The “Powell Memo” and the Supreme Court: A Counteroffensive Against the Many
    Derek Ford
    The “Powell Memo” and the Supreme Court: A Counteroffensive Against the Many
    12 Apr 2023
    Written in 1971 by Lewis Powell before he joined the U.S. Supreme Court, the Powell Memo was a call to the U.S. capitalist class to construct a more intentional, coherent and focused…
  • ‘Zone of Peace’ Campaign Launched In 3 Countries to Build ‘People(s)-Centered Movement’ in the Americas
    Julie Varughese
    ‘Zone of Peace’ Campaign Launched In 3 Countries to Build ‘People(s)-Centered Movement’ in the Americas
    12 Apr 2023
    The Zone of Peace campaign is a "people(s) centered" grassroots effort to end imperialist domination throughout the Americas.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us