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


  • Brazil is a Killing Field for Young Black Men
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Brazil is a Killing Field for Young Black Men
    20 May 2019
    “The police kill at least 14 young Black men in Brazil every single day,” said Prof. Jaime Amparo Alves, a member of the Brazilian Black Movement who teaches anthropology at t
  • Political Mafia Suspected in Marielle Franco Murder
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Political Mafia Suspected in Marielle Franco Murder
    20 May 2019
    Only two people have been arrested in the March, 2018 assassination of Marielle Franco, the Black activist and city councilwoman in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • Killer Security Guards Get Impunity
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Killer Security Guards Get Impunity
    20 May 2019
    On May 31 Philadelphia activists will march on a “My Philly Wireless” outlet where a private security guard fatally shot Willie Oliver Wise, an unarmed part-time employee who said the store ow
  • The U.S. Has Been Eclipsed in Every Sphere But War
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    The U.S. Has Been Eclipsed in Every Sphere But War
    16 May 2019
    US rulers promised that technology would bring the return of the millions of jobs that were outsourced to low-wage countries, but America has lost the hi-tech race and excels only in weapons of war
  • standoff at the Venezulean embassy
    Raymond Nat Turner , BAR poet-in-residence
    Embassy crawlers, kidnappers, Butchers and Boss Tweet…
    15 May 2019
    “The receiving State is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of t
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us