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

all their deaths were ruled suicide
JP Sloan
15 Jan 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Memorial site of Emmett Till
Bullet holes riddle the memorial sign of Emmett Till's body was found at the Tallahatchie River. Photo: Emmett Till Memory Project

for Aiyana, for Tommie, for Jordan

all their deaths were ruled suicide

by choosing to live in 71108
by taking a run through 71106
by gorging themselves on government assistance
by jumping into the Atlantic
by refusing to comply
by denying the Gospel of Gender
by boarding the BART to Fruitvale
by inhabiting the food desert
by defending the flag that never defended them
by reading Marx
by preaching “Revolution!”
by protesting peacefully
by speaking in the tongues of the unheard
by playing “cops and robbers”
by sleeping on the couch
by resting in “peace” in a Haynesville cemetery
by drinking the bitter, flinty waters of austerity
by driving too fast through a “Church Zone”
by dreaming drunk in the drive-thru
by practicing self-defense in a “Stand Your Ground” state
by praying without ceasing in a Charleston church
by turning up the music too loud
by whistling...allegedly
by “excited delirium syndrome”
by selling loose cigarettes and cds
by standing at the door and knocking
by “the combined effects of sickl…”
by

JP Sloan is a Louisiana native and a scholar of early Black poetry. He is also an aspiring poet and an organizer with the Black Alliance for Peace.

state violence
Anti-Black Racism
Assassination
Lynching
Emmett Till
Jordan Neely
Black Radical Tradition

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


Related Stories

Anthony Rogers-Wright
Israel Just Passed a Law Sanctioning the Lynching of Palestinians…So Why is the Congressional Black Caucus So Silent About it?
15 April 2026
The same caucus that celebrated the Emmett Till Antilynching Act refuses to condemn Israel's new death penalty for Palestinians.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Urgent Need for the Black Radical Tradition
11 March 2026
The U.S.
Anthony Rogers-Wright
Preserving the Legacy of Martin Luther King and The Black Radical Tradition Requires Saving Both from the Congressional Black Caucus More than from white moderates and white supremacists (Or, I said what I said)
21 January 2026
Preserving the Black Radical Tradition demands struggle not only against white supremacists, but also against the co-opted Black political clas
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
Erica Caines
“Crime”, The Trojan Horse For Colonial Control
24 September 2025
The rhetoric of crime prevention has always served to enforce colonial order.
Ryan Mills
OPINION: The National Black Radical Organizing Conference: Carrying on Tradition
17 September 2025
Organizer Ryan Mills shares his firsthand experience as one of the organizers of the 2025 National Black Radical Organizing Conference in India
Black Alliance For Peace
From George Floyd Back to the Structural Violence of Capitalism
28 May 2025
With the ritualistic murder of George Floyd by the occupation forces referred to as the police that roam the streets and barrios of the Black a
Jon Jeter
The Only Language the White Settler Speaks: Ohio Police Say Grieving Black Father Avenges Son’s Slaying By Killing One of Theirs
07 May 2025
The killing of Timothy Thomas in 2001 ignited Cincinnati’s long-simmering tensions over police violence.
Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
Black Politics and Mutual Comradeship: A Manifesto
07 May 2025
From Gaza to Sudan to the streets of America, the oppressors of our time demand mass resistance.
Jon Jeter
Ready For the Revolution But Unable to See It: Blacks Recognize Racism But Lack Game Plan to Fight It
30 April 2025
Black communities once turned righteous fury into systemic change, but today’s outrage over slights like Shedeur Sanders’ NFL draft slide rarel

More Stories


  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    A Sigh of Relief…But Breathing Easy is Impossible in a Circumference of U.S. Empire (Or, the Perpetual Relevance of Frederick Douglass’s Prescription for Resistance)
    08 Apr 2026
    The ceasefire brings a sense of relief but not safety. Iran showed that the empire is not invincible, but the US commitment to the doctrine of hegemony has not changed.
  • Rohan Rice
    Britain’s Imperialist Maneuvers in Iran
    08 Apr 2026
    Keir Starmer and Trump are putting on a puppet show for the cameras. Behind the scenes, Britain remains a junior imperialist partner working for the destruction of Iran.
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    BAP’s 9th Anniversary: Turn Imperialist Wars into Peoples’ Wars Against Imperialism
    08 Apr 2026
    The Black Alliance for Peace marks nine years of fighting against U.S. imperialist brutality. Now the movement must transform imperialist wars into people's wars for liberation.
  • Erica Caines
    Dialectics, Iran and the Long Durée of Anticolonial Revolution
    08 Apr 2026
    The war on Iran is part of a class war against any country that refuses to open itself up for foreign profit. Understanding Iran means seeing its fight as part of the same struggle that defines the…
  • Adam Mahoney
    An Oil Explosion in a Black Texas Town Traces Back to Trump’s Iran and Venezuela Crises
    08 Apr 2026
    “The chickens have come home to roost,” one resident said. “Our exact fears have come true.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us