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
  • omnibus

 For Brother Bruce
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
03 Jul 2019
 For Brother Bruce
 For Brother Bruce

Here’s the FOIA requested,
Redacted part of the story they never tell
You. 

Baby Bruce was wandering
the Midwest with Dorothy and Toto—
Before they picked up the Tinman in 
Pittsburgh, the Scarecrow on Staten Island,
the Cowardly Lion in Los Angeles
Baby Bruce had a baby brain, a huge
heart and fully formed courage that
would be schooled and steeled at the 
point of production—
Molding a straight-up soldier on
The Long March; A rank-in-file, 
meet ‘em where they’re at,
shoe leather, serve the people, 
door-to-door knocking, 
troublemaking organizer;
Chitown stubborn kinda fella— 
stubborn as a Georgia mule—
Refusing to slip, on Iceberg Slim
posing as community organizer…

He had huge heart, big brain and 
courage. Barrel of his pen blazing—
welcoming me from the wilderness,
Cali isolation, to fight side by side
Against the masked man— The
Drone Ranger; when icons and 
Legends were losing their minds

and Slutty Professors dangled
on the dick of Deporter-in-Chief!

When Bruce’s 404 popped up on my phone
It was business—but personal—laughing, joking, 
we’d cover the waterfront with lunch bucket language…
I pray The Wizard put a Bruce Dixon Organizer’s App
 on my phone countering some spyware…

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Bruce Dixon

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


Related Stories

The Courage to Write the Truth: Where and When Bruce Dixon Enters History
Dr. Matthew Quest
The Courage to Write the Truth: Where and When Bruce Dixon Enters History
21 August 2019
Bruce entered history as the most distinguished critic of the Black political class during the Age of Obama.

More Stories


  • Drone Whistleblower Thrown in Pen With Terrorists
    John Kiriakou
    Drone Whistleblower Thrown in Pen With Terrorists
    19 Oct 2021
    In a cruel act of revenge, the U.S. government sent Daniel Hale, who exposed U.S. drone civilian killings, to a maximum security prison where he is housed with convicted terrorists. 
  • Black families Passed Their Homes from One Generation to the Next. Now They May Be Lost.
    Sarah Sax
    Black families Passed Their Homes from One Generation to the Next. Now They May Be Lost.
    13 Oct 2021
    Unstable property rights mean Black southerners may survive a flood but lose their home, and it’s causing the racial wealth gap to grow larger.
  • Anti-Black Racism in Canadian Prisons Remains Rampant, Despite Government Pledges
    Simon Rolston, Nora Demnati
    Anti-Black Racism in Canadian Prisons Remains Rampant, Despite Government Pledges
    13 Oct 2021
    Systemic racism is built into Canada’s prison system, but federal parties have little to offer incarcerated Black Canadians and their families.
  • The Obama Presidential Center Will Displace Black People
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Obama Presidential Center Will Displace Black People
    13 Oct 2021
    The Obama Presidential Center will inevitably displace a working class Black community in Chicago.
  • I’m no nuanced Negro, but…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    I’m no nuanced Negro, but…
    13 Oct 2021
    I’m no nuanced Negro, but…   I’m no nuanced Negro—never have been—never will be. I’m a lower the forks, pick up the pallet, put it on the
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us