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

That Sunday morning Mom cried …
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
20 May 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Mourners after Malcolm X was assassinated
Mourners in New York City watching as the funeral procession for Malcolm X arrives at Faith Temple in New York.

I.
I awakened early that Sunday morning. Seized time for
talking, that Sunday morning. Time for connecting.
Time for catching up before breakfast-bound siblings and
Dad woke wanting her attention … that Sunday morning

That Sunday morning her mind was on pots and pans
and she schooled me on shucking peas. Put me to work
prepping Sunday’s dinner, that Sunday morning.
My hands and mouth moved in sync that Sunday morning

That Sunday morning I stretched out. Questioned and
voiced thoughts. Tested theories, that Sunday morning.
Caught up, that Sunday morning. Carved time out of
pea hulls and TV talk shows … that Sunday morning

II.
NEWS flash! NEWS bulletin! Black Nationalist leader Malcolm X shot —
killed in New York, that Sunday morning. Mom’s primal shriek rocked
my world, that Sunday morning. Saline tears never stained her dark chocolate 
cheeks — until … that Sunday morning

Panicked that Sunday morning, I vomited, “He preached hate!” 
Regurgitated school district indoctrination, that Sunday morning.
Belched brain-washed bile Los Angeles Times teen digest, instead
of slathering Mom with sympathy, that Sunday morning

Should’ve swept her up in sympathy that Sunday morning. Day her friend died. 
Friend she loved and respected. Friend she shared strong coffee demitasses with 
when he came west fishing for men. Friend she teased about ‘cold feet,’ and
odd socks. Grass root messenger. Ballot or bullet friend, Black as his vinyl

III.
Year later, since that Sunday morning. Mom and I spoke Malcolm-ease. His words
deepened, broadened our bond. “Don’t stop suffering; just suffer peacefully. Long
as you’re south of the Canadian border you’re south: up south, out south,
down south.”
“You been had. You been took. Naw, you need a revolution! They wouldn’t even
let Baldwin speak ‘cause they know he’s liable to say anything. Told those Negroes 
what signs to carry. What songs to sing. And to be out of town by sundown. Why,
that’s a Negro who’s out of his mind!”

That Sunday morning, South Los Angeles slumbered swollen with
resistance. Pregnant with leaping orange flames longing to explode
in “Burn, baby, burn!” shouts. That Sunday morning, City of Angels
slept six months from bloody breech birth

Panthers, dancers, poets, painters, BSUs spurted from blackened 
bullet wounds —
crescendoing like Civil Rights exploding into ringing Black Power,
ringing in ears of those yet born …

© 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.
 

Malcolm X
Black Liberation
resistance
black power
civil rights

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
Gambling Man
10 June 2026
Even though the table’s tilted; the dice are loaded;and the cards are marked; even though light-fingered
Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Co-Founder of Black Liberation Army, Reflects on the Legacy of Assata Shakur and Revolutionary Sacrifice
03 June 2026
On May 30, 2026, a Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Assata Shakur was held at the Riverside Church in New York City.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Malcolm X and Human Rights in the Time of Trumpism: Transcending the Masters Tools
20 May 2026
This piece was originally published in Black Agenda Report i
Mark P. Fancher
If Iran has the Strait of Hormuz, What Can Black People Use for Leverage and Power?
13 May 2026
Tennessee just erased its only majority-Black voting district.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Voting Rights Act and the Need for Movement Politics
06 May 2026
From the 1870 15th Amendment to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, voting rights for Black people have proven to be ephemeral.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
In its Lynching of the Voting Rights Act, Did SCOTUS Just Do Us A Favor By Elucidating the Lies of “America?”
06 May 2026
The Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v.
Mark P. Fancher
Political Snobbery Delays Black Liberation
29 April 2026
The conditions are ripe for growing Black political consciousness, but revolutionary movements must broaden their reach to all sectors and clas
Mark P. Fancher
When Black People are Xenophobic They Risk Black Deaths in Iran
25 March 2026
Black youth fed xenophobia instead of international solidarity become military pawns who risk their own lives and their people's libe
Mark P. Fancher
A Role for Africans In Exile: “Revolutionaries at Large”
21 January 2026
Africans in the U.S. must weaponize their position and sabotage imperial projects from the inside.
Michael Smith
Malcolm X’s Daughters Sue NYPD, FBI About Their Role in His Assassination
14 January 2026
A top-notch legal team is delving into how the FBI and their local police partners collaborated in both the assassination of Malcolm X and Chic

More Stories


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: When to fight, when to care, Floyd Dunn, 1993
    03 Dec 2025
    “The [AIDS] epidemic continued to gobble up the first phase of us…”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki Stands with Sudan
    03 Dec 2025
    Eritrean President Isais Afwerki arrived in Port Sudan on November 29 to stand with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan for the unity of Sudan.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Reclaiming our time back from February 30th Fighters
    03 Dec 2025
    "Reclaiming our time back from February 30th Fighters" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Jon Jeter
    Everything Must Change: Roles Reversed as Western Imperialist’s Gory, Glory Days Come to an End
    03 Dec 2025
    Europe celebrated defeating fascism in 1945 but immediately resumed its colonial control of the Global South. Now, eighty years later, the West is bankrupt financially and morally and is discovering…
  • Accra
    Dhoruba bin-Wahad
    5th Pan-African Congress Commemoration 2025
    03 Dec 2025
    Delegates gathered in Accra, Ghana to commemorate the 1945 Pan-African Conference, affirm their commitment to fighting neo-colonialism, and to demand reparations for African people throughout the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us