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

Save The Overtime…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
19 Sep 2018
🖨️ Print Article
this is what we do as cops
in praise of rotten apples and police overtime

“…hear me now, five, four, three, two, one…

Runnin' to the door, peepin' out the window
Hopin' to see only you
Listenin’ for the phone, checkin' out the tick tock
Countin' if it's a certain time
Darling, don't stay away too long
Pretty baby, I know you're working hard for me
Darling, baby, don't stay away too long
Pretty baby, save the overtime…”

Thin blue line of condoms
Protecting, serving our
finest in harm’s way—
Hot pursuit—wetly, warmly
fearing for their safety:
Chlamydia, Herpes,
Gonorrhea—scornful
shrieks of wives—keeping
Sex in the city safe…

It’s a tough job—but
someone must Just do
It under capitalism—
When not firing 41
shots in vestibules;
Ignoring pleas, “I
can’t breathe…”
Tackling cyclists;
Kettle-ing marchers,
Crushing Occupy;
Breaking strikes; putting
cases on people—planting
contraband and throwaway
Guns…
Writing fiction, acting
Shakespearean—
Testi-lying in court…
imagining men and women upstate

Today, they threw a few into the
fire until the next sizzling scandal
of Red Squad surveillance, Mosque
crawlers, dirty ‘detectives,’ street
Executions by walking-hate crimes…

But who was crossed in the wicked
world where useless thugs are
Untouchable, and the few good men
and women with spines are ‘rats?’

Whose palm went un-greased?
Whose beak was left bone dry in
the fraternal order of Vitamin S—
Nips-fueled failed jocks, sadists,
Killers, bullies back from free-
fire zones in oil wars?

Maybe, OverTime’s up—
for a “few bad apples…”
from a rotten orchard?

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Our poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed performing artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

policing

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


Related Stories

Black Alliance For Peace
End the Colonial Occupation of Washington D.C.: The People Demand Self-Determination and Self-Governance
13 August 2025
Washington, D.C.'s political subjugation exposes America's democratic facade. While claiming to champion self-rule globally, the U.S.
Justin Fenton , Ben Conarck , Pamela Wood
Forensic Failures: 36 Police-Custody Deaths Should Have Been Ruled a Homicide, Audit Finds
28 May 2025
Oliver Robinson
Trump Terror, Complicit Local Leadership, and the Assault Against Southeast D.C.
09 April 2025
Donald Trump’s new “Safe and Beautiful” task force is little more than a thinly veiled assault on Black working-class communities in Southeast
Jacqueline Luqman
Defeat The Fascist War On African People In The US And Abroad!
19 June 2024
The struggle to defeat the war on African people can be understood through an analysis of the ongoing relationship between African people and t
Natasha Lennard
New York Spends $225 Million on Its Own “Cop City” — to Make the Whole City Run on Cops
12 June 2024
A proposed New York training facility shows how establishment politicians only understand governance through policing.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Papa Cop’s Pedagogy of the Oppressor (Apartheid state professors or SS students?)
15 May 2024
“The policeman isn't there to create disorder;
Investigation Shows Hundreds of US Cops Being Trained by Far-Right Extremists
Kenny Stancil
Investigation Shows Hundreds of US Cops Being Trained by Far-Right Extremists
11 May 2022
Policing in the United States is inherently racist and right wing.
BAR Book Forum: Interview with Calvin Warren
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Interview with Calvin Warren
12 January 2022
As part of the Black Agenda Report Book Forum, we interview scholars about a recent article they’ve written for either an academic journal
jackson ms
Adofo Minka
Jackson MS: Police Killings Continue Amid Mayoral Silence in the "Most Radical City on the Planet"
15 February 2018
In the last few months Jackson's supposedly radical mayor has lifted residency requirements for city police officers, and remained silent o

More Stories


  • Is the U.S. Covering Up its Role in Moïse’s Murder?
    Kim Ives
    Is the U.S. Covering Up its Role in Moïse’s Murder?
    18 May 2022
    The judge presiding over the trial of an accused killer of Haitian president Jovenel Moise granted the DOJ request to classify certain evidence. The action points to a possible US connection with…
  • German Police Attack Palestine Supporters on Nakba Day
    Ali Abunimah
    German Police Attack Palestine Supporters on Nakba Day
    18 May 2022
    The city of Berlin, Germany banned pro-Palestinian protests on May 15, Nakba Day. But solidarity with Palestine could not be stopped.
  • ‘Go back to the plantation’ – Curitiba, Brazil Moves to Impeach Black City Councilor
    Brian Mier
    ‘Go back to the plantation’ – Curitiba, Brazil Moves to Impeach Black City Councilor
    17 May 2022
    The first impeachment process against a city councilor in the 329-year history of Curitiba – the Brazilian city that most cherishes its “European heritage” – is underway, and it has nothing to do…
  • How Global McCarthyism Shaped the World
    Peter Hogart
    How Global McCarthyism Shaped the World
    17 May 2022
    Military coups are a CIA tool used to control the Global South and ensure U.S. hegemony in many parts of the world.
  • The Sun Never Sets: Why Is AFRICOM Expanding in Zambia?
    Jeremy Kuzmarov
    The Sun Never Sets: Why Is AFRICOM Expanding in Zambia?
    17 May 2022
    Why Is AFRICOM Expanding in Zambia? Because of Zambia’s Copper and to Thwart the Chinese.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us