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


  • Ryan Mills
    OPINION: The National Black Radical Organizing Conference: Carrying on Tradition
    17 Sep 2025
    Organizer Ryan Mills shares his firsthand experience as one of the organizers of the 2025 National Black Radical Organizing Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. "This was truly an event that I will…
  • BettBeat
    Capitalism Hijacked the World to Keep Contributing to Genocide—BRICS Proves It
    17 Sep 2025
    We are like addicts who scream "no" while stabbing the needle into our arms. The rational mind recoils from the horror, but the economic body continues its automated motions of complicity.
  • Gerald A. Perreira
    Guyana: A Pawn of US Imperialism
    17 Sep 2025
    Guyana’s leadership is a willing pawn for US imperialism, endangering regional peace for the sake of placating the hegemon.
  • Middle East Eye Staff
    New York state sends police chiefs to Israel for 'counterterrorism' training
    17 Sep 2025
    This is the second training visit for US officers that has been hosted by an Israeli government agency during Israel's war on Gaza.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio September 12, 2025
    12 Sep 2025
    In this week’s segment we discuss a new book analyzing the need to confront counterinsurgency and fight against repression domestically and internationally. But first we hear from an activist on the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us