Obituaries

Masses, Movements, Muhammad Ali!

Raymond Nat Turner
Friday June 10, 2016 - 08:51:00 AM

I.

He came like a Jack Johnson flashback, wrapped

In Gorgeous George game, mentored by Malcolm

He came, fancy footwork, flamboyant flurry of fists

And flaming tongue—when a hero was needed to go toe-to-toe with Jim Crow—outpoint Amerikkan

Apartheid in rings ‘round the globe!

He came telling the world about brave

Children facing firehoses, fangs of snarling

German Shepherds, billy clubs, cattle prods,

And crackers with stars; He came as a mirror,

Face reflecting beauty of our mighty mass movements—welts, warts, zits, imperfections and all…



He came, Bojangles in boxing gloves, fighting

Shoulder to shoulder, side by side with Watts, Detroit, Newark, Montgomery millions—

Makers of history in anonymous glory….

He came, defying grand dragon draft boards and

Speaking truth to people—Ali Shuffling Black

Men out cul-de-sacs as cannon fodder; off bottom

Lines and balance sheets of war profiteers; off

Rope-a-Dope of rich men’s wars; off killing, ‘serving’

The world’s greatest purveyor of violence—murderers of Malcolm, Medgar, Martin, Lumumba,

Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman and good men and women in the Philippines, Korea, Cuba, Indonesia, Iran; He came Nina-Langston-like

“Backlash Blues” “Ain’t No Viet Cong ever called me

N#$$%@!”

He came healing, practicing preventive medicine on

PTSD and suicide…He came reinvesting tears of Black families in graduations and weddings—making

Black Lives Matter…



He came Coltrane, like the blues, “I ain’t got no

Quarrel with them Viet Cong…” Cliff Notes on

Lenin’s Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism



II.

I sat silently on Facebook clicking red hearts

Emblazoned, ‘LOVE’ and occasionally writing

“Right on” or “TEACH” my ‘60s taught response

To righteous truth-telling—I didn’t want to write

Ali’s heroic deeds, simple words are Shakespearean,

Leaving us blind men and women fool’s errands of

Feeling an elephant and claiming deep grasp of its

Nature…intersectionality, binary Huxtabullshit to

‘de-construct’ or ‘unpack’

Ali’s a real role model—no Shaq/Chuck shuck…

No Nobel Peace Prize mass murderer; no prop

In hands of clowns—acrobats skillfully hoisting him and supporting the troops while dangling on the dick of the Drone Ranger!

Ali’s a real role model. His words and deeds stoked

Dream machines, made us think and believe we can run Miles and Trane…and be “The Greatest” at something…  

 

 

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2016 All Rights Reserved