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

Statues of Limitation
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 Sep 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Statues of Limitation
A flatbed truck carries a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from Market Street Park in Charlottesville. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Statues of Limitation

A German comrade
quipped, “When you
Come to Frankfurt
You’ll find bronze celebrating
Poets, painters, philosophers—
But you won’t find the
Führer’s face any place—
Bratwurst, beer and Jazz
in Berlin; but you’ll find
lime green leprechauns
before patinas of Goebbels,
and Goering glaring from
park and plaza pedestals…”

Italian bandmates chimed in,
“Come with us when we go home—
you won’t find Mussolini’s
mug in Milan, or Rome…”
And the Butoh dancer blurted
“And no Tojo in Tokyo!”

Why’d I softly reply,
“ Dixie—south of the
Canadian Border—sits
pock marked with 1,000
syphilitic statues of
Slavers, traitors, terrorists—“
Instead of screaming,
“Would you name your child
Jezebel Jackson,
Judas Jones,
Satan Smith, or
Sheriff Joe—
Would you call yourself
a nigger, bitch, or hoe?
Would you celebrate
Stonewall Jackson, or
Robert E. Lee—
Would you tell your Mother
You’re an SOB?”

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 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.

confederate statues

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


More Stories


  • Sky over Israel as missiles fall
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Israel and the U.S. Escalate War in Western Asia
    04 Oct 2024
    Dr. Gerald Horne joins us from Houston to analyze the situation in West Asia one year after the Al Aqsa Flood - the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Israel's pager attack in Lebanon and …
  • Edgar Leblanc
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Haitian "Leaders" are U.S. Puppets
    04 Oct 2024
    Dahoud Andre provides analysis on Edgar Leblanc, President of the Council of the Transition of the Republic of Haiti, and the recent events at the U.N.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Year After Al-Aqsa Flood
    02 Oct 2024
    The maniacal alliance between the U.S. and Israel has exposed the sham of western democracy and the illusion of international law.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ARTICLE: The Forgotten Occupation, Emmanuel Santos, 2008
    02 Oct 2024
    A reminder that Haiti’s struggle is an anti-colonial one that deserves the world’s solidarity, not its indifference.
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    How the US Destabilized the Horn of Africa
    02 Oct 2024
    In 2018, the leaders of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia signed a regional cooperation agreement that raised great hope in the Horn, but now, six years, later, it lies in tatters.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us