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


  • U.S. Imposes Economic Sanctions on Black Community Projects
    The Burning Spear
    U.S. Imposes Economic Sanctions on Black Community Projects
    22 Mar 2023
    The FBI raid on the Uhuru Movement has resulted in economic sanctions like those imposed on countries that dare to be sovereign despite being under U.S. attack.
  • Black Agenda Radio March 17, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio March 17, 2023
    17 Mar 2023
    This week we will hear about efforts to mobilize New York progressives in support of the Green Party and how a proposal for new questions on ethnicity and race would improve accuracy and fairness in…
  • Stop Cop City
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Stop Cop City
    17 Mar 2023
    Tunde Osazua joins us from Atlanta to talk about the Stop Cop City movement and why it matters to the entire country.
  • The Left in New York Join the Green Transformation
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Left in New York Join the Green Transformation
    17 Mar 2023
    We discuss the March 25th meeting, Join the Green Transformation, a Green Party of New York County effort to mobilize left voters.
  • Proposed Changes to Census Questions on Race and Ethnicity Would Improve Fairness and Accuracy
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Proposed Changes to Census Questions on Race and Ethnicity Would Improve Fairness and Accuracy
    17 Mar 2023
    Proposed changes to 2030 Census questions on race and ethnicity would improve fairness and accuracy.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us