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

Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
08 Feb 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!
Image: Carlito Rovira

                                                                                  Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!                                                  

 

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone

too long…

Wanted in the Black Community—

Watts writ large!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone

too long…

Wanted in the Black Community—

Watts writ large!

If 1619 started it—ebony/ivory—

teenage attraction

Jim Crow’s watch—upped the ante!

Deep South apartheid stench/Emmett

Till terror/pitched battles on blood rivers…

What could the boy be but Black rapist?

Bullwhip warped minds of white men—

What could this be but ‘Master’s’

midnight visits to slave quarters—Prying

apart Black thighs—overruling cries, pleas,

Love?

What could the boy be but Black rapist?

Crackers coveted Choctaw land—

Black soil mattered…

More than visiting terror—or

Another muddy, mutilated body in Mississippi

or other Dixie river. Crackers coveting

Choctaw land put boy in plantation place…

Gifted 8 Angola yrs…Under King Cotton’s rule…

Under horseback-ridin, shotgun-totin, tobacco

spittin gaze… Gifted target embroidered

Jacket— Gifted exile: City of Angels/ruled by devils…

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone

too long…

Wanted in the Black Community—

Watts writ large!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone

too long…

Wanted in the Black Community—

Watts writ large!

His numbers are no longer:

“6-3-4-5-7-8-9”

no longer:

“Beechwood 4-5-7-8-9”

far too long his numbers been:

#A92051 #T115— 83—Caged since

’63— 60 yrs vengeance-driven torture!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone

too long…

Wanted in the Black Community—

Watts writ large!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone

too long…

Wanted in the Black Community—

Watts writ large!

Visualize him home—sun splashing light comic

book bright colors of L.A. murals!

Visualize him home, holding youth

centers, Senior centers, libraries,

bookstores

Captive. Pulling three-deep lines snaked

‘round crooked corners…

Space, light, air, freedom to stretch out in sensory

overload!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone

too long…

Wanted in the Black Community—

Watts writ large!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone

too long…

Wanted in the Black Community—

Watts writ large!

No mo’ Golden State gulag/COVID

concentration camp—

No mo’ Octogenarian barrister behind bars

law book-lifting—iron-pumping mind:

No mo’ memoranda, motion, writ and plea

No mo’ heroic, litigious—War of the Flea—

No mo’ symbol of strength/wisdom of tree—

People, Ruchell Magee must be set Free!

Governor, Ruchell Magee must be set Free!

People, Ruchell Magee must be set Free!



© 2023. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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.

Ruchell Magee
Free All Political Prisoners
political prisoners

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


Related Stories

Assata Shakur
No One Can Stop The Rain
01 October 2025
Assata Shakur wrote the introduction and this poem for the 1990 book
Safiya Bukhari
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: On the Question of Political Prisoners, Safiya Bukhari,1995
07 August 2024
To commemorate Black August, read Safiya Bukhari's essay on political prisoners and political mov
Joan Gibbs
Matt Tracy
Joan Gibbs, Renowned Lesbian Activist and Attorney, Dies at 71
10 April 2024
Joan Gibbs, long time civil rights attorney and activist, is remembered for her deep commitment to her community and for so
Sekou Odinga
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
STATEMENT: From Sekou Odinga–New Afrikan Prisoner of War, 1982
24 January 2024
The late African revolutionary Sekou Odinga in his own words.
Ralph Poynter delivered a solidarity message from Lynne Stewart
Lallan Schoenstein
Ralph Poynter Used His Strong Voice and Stout Heart to Fight for Justice
10 January 2024
Ralph Poynter was a pioneer in the fight against white supremacy, oppression, and injustice around the world.
Orisanmi Burton and his book, "Tip of the Sphere"
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Orisanmi Burton’s Book, “Tip of the Spear”
25 October 2023
This week’s featured author is Orisanmi Burton
LETTER: For George, The Seventh of August Movement, 1971
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
LETTER: For George, The Seventh of August Movement, 1971
16 August 2023
A letter commemorating George Jackson speaks to the origins of Black August.
Black August for the Pendleton 2
Too Black
Black August for the Pendleton 2
16 August 2023
Black August is an important month of political education, but it should not solely be about the past.
Mutulu Shakur
Akinyele Umoja
Mutulu Shakur
12 July 2023
Mutulu Shakur passed away just seven months after being paroled.
COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War, Exiles Are on the Agenda of a UN Panel
Efia Nwangaza
COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War, Exiles Are on the Agenda of a UN Panel
03 May 2023
A United Nations panel of experts is in the US investigating the condition of political prisoners held in this country.

More Stories


  • Richard Medhurst
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Richard Medhurst Arrested and Facing Terrorism Act Charges
    30 Aug 2024
    Richard Medhurst joins us to discuss his recent arrest under the Terrorism Act for his journalism, his case, and the implications of prosecuting journalists.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    "Democracies" Attack Journalism as They Attack Democracy Itself
    28 Aug 2024
    What does democracy mean if elections are ignored and journalists are charged as criminals? That is the case today, as western countries descend into crises of their own making and are more blatant…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    REPORT: “The People Who Were Left to Die:” Horrors Suffered by Orleans Parish Prisoners in Wake of Katrina, ACLU, 2006
    28 Aug 2024
    Remembering the terrible plight of the incarcerated during Hurricane Katrina.
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Protests for Palestine at the DNC
    28 Aug 2024
    DNC protest organizers kept Democrats’ responsibility for the Gaza genocide in the news from October to August.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    Africa at the Center of Another Global Health Emergency
    28 Aug 2024
    EVD, COVID-19 and now Mpox further reveal how dependency is dangerous and deadly.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us