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

Warriors we are…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
22 Jun 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Warriors we are…
2020 San Francisco Protest (Photo: Kit Castagne)

                                                                                                                              Warriors we are…

                                                                                                 (For my Friend Larry’s lean years/in between years)

                                                                                                     “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war,

                                                                                          while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”

                                                                                                                                 – Sun Tzu

Pop-pop-pop-pop—explosions! Kaleidoscopic
cracks of color, age, orientation—in motion—
But no one’s running. No one’s hiding behind
doors; behind desks; Fearing AR-15 weekly reports.

No howling lynchers, hangman’s nooses, hockey
sticks! No bear spray, baseball bats, brass knuckles!
No white supremacist supermarket shooters; No homo
phobic haters! No blu klux klan knees/chokeholds; No
Glocks killing because of—You name the verb—
“…while Black…”

Market and Main parade route. Banners waving,
festooned on San Francisco’s streets
Arms are bridges between dancers, huggers, high
fivers; between generous tossers of extra snacks.
Ivory smiles, improvised explosive devices blasting
stink-eye smug/mean mugs from blissful faces.
Joyful faces, cheering and singing harmoniously!
If this is what Warrior wins look like—we will be
Warriors for windmill/solar panel-size victories…

Everyday people—Warriors—wanting better.
Seizing strength through LOVE.
Rejecting realtors’ flagrant fouls: tarps, tents, card
board mattresses/urine-smelling, shit-slippery streets…

Everyday people—Warriors—wanting better.
Seizing strength through LOVE.
Sweeping stroke, diabetes, cancer, heart attack in four!
Winning dental/healthcare for ALL! Ejecting barking
bellies; trading Franken ‘food’ for Fresh Fruits/Veggies

Everyday people—Warriors—wanting better.
Seizing strength through LOVE.
99% Strength In Numbers—Arab Springs, Occupies, Strike
tobers, George Floyd Summers for un-fracked/unleaded
water
Everyday people—Warriors—wanting better.
Seizing strength through LOVE.
Springing up like Splash Brothers for three point
shots at DAs prosecuting killer cops; booking low Barr Boss
Tweet thugs bleeding budgets for death and destruction

Everyday people—Warriors—wanting better.
Seizing strength through LOVE—through
Justice and Peace pleading with us: man/woman up! Be
Spartacus, Che, Harriet Tubman, Douglass, Fanny Lou,
John Brown, Malcolm, Martin and close this game
Out…

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, 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.

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


More Stories


  • Foreign Aid for Rwanda, Suffering for Rwandans and Congolese
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    Foreign Aid for Rwanda, Suffering for Rwandans and Congolese
    04 Sep 2019
    Rwanda is treated as a showcase of US-allied Africa, but even western capitalists don’t believe dictator Paul Kagame’s economic numbers, and his own fortune comes from looting Congo.
  • How Race Made the Opioid Crisis
    Donna Murch
    How Race Made the Opioid Crisis
    04 Sep 2019
    The fundamental division between “dope” and medicine has always been the race and class of users.
  • My Wise Country Cousin: de Low-leeta Xpress a Bi-Party-sin Flight
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    My Wise Country Cousin: de Low-leeta Xpress a Bi-Party-sin Flight
    04 Sep 2019
    Humph, an’ to think dey made “Birth ob de Nation“ spreadin’ dat filth— dat rotten disinformation— I bet dis what shrinks mean wit dey word, “projekshun?”
  • Dissent Is Being Criminalized Right Under Our Noses
    Mike Siegel
    Dissent Is Being Criminalized Right Under Our Noses
    04 Sep 2019
    If you painted “Black Lives Matter” on a wall to advocate against police violence, that could be prosecuted as terrorism.
  • Reality Check: Bank of England Governor Criticizes the Petrodollar!
    Cheikh Amma Diop
    Reality Check: Bank of England Governor Criticizes the Petrodollar!
    04 Sep 2019
    When a capitalist governor of an imperialist nation’s central bank says alternatives to the US dollar are necessary, big change is afoot.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us