Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!
Elder, brother, comradeâŚBeen gone
too longâŚ
Wanted in the Black Communityâ
Watts writ large!
If 1619 started itâebony/ivoryâ
teenage attraction
Jim Crowâs watchâupped the ante!
Deep South apartheid stench/Emmett
Till terror/Pitched battles on blood riversâŚ
What could the boy be but Black rapist?
Bullwhip warped minds of white menâ
What could this be but âMasterâsâ
midnight visits to slave quartersâPrying
apart Black thighsâoverruling cries, pleas,
Love?
What could the boy be but Black rapist?
Crackers coveted Choctaw landâ
Black soil matteredâŚ
More than visiting terrorâor
Another muddy, mutilated body in Mississippi
or another Dixie river. Crackers coveting
Choctaw land put the boy in his plantation placeâŚ
Crackers coveting Choctaw land gifted 8 Angola yrs,
Under horseback-ridin, shot-gun-totin, tobacco-spittin
gaze; Under King Cottonâs rule; Gifted target embroidered
Jacketâ Gifted exile to: City of Angels/ruled by devilsâŚ
Elder, brother, comradeâŚBeen gone
too longâŚ
Wanted in the Black Communityâ
Watts writ large!
His numbers are no longer:
â6-3-4-5-7-8-9â
no longer:
âBeechwood 4-5-7-8-9â
far too long his numbers been:
#A92051 #T115â 83âCaged since â63â
60 yrs of vengeance-driven torture!
Elder, brother, comradeâŚBeen gone
too longâŚ
Wanted in the Black Communityâ
Watts writ large!
Visualize him homeâsun splashing light comic
book bright colors of L.A. murals!
Visualize him home, pulling three-deep lines snaked
âround crooked cornersâŚholding youth centers, senior
centers, libraries, bookstores captive.
Visualize him homeâspace, light, air, freedom to stretch
out in sensory overload!
Elder, brother, comradeâŚBeen gone
too longâŚ
Wanted in the Black Communityâ
Watts writ large!
No moâ Golden State gulag/COVID
concentration campâ
No moâ Octogenarian barrister behind bars
law book-liftingâiron-pumping mind:
No moâ memoranda, motion, writ and plea
No moâ heroic, litigiousâWar of the Fleaâ
No moâ symbol of strength/wisdom of treeâ
People, Ruchell Magee must be set Free!
Governor, Ruchell Magee must be set Free!
People, Ruchell Magee must be set Free!
Š 2023. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
"Minnesota 9 â now say their names: pastor, lawyer, journalists and resistance leaders" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This weekâs featured author is Marisa Solomon. Solomon is Assistant Professor of Womenâs, Gender, andâŚ
The debate over the EPA's new math misses the point. The agency hasn't changed its values, it has simply stopped pretending to account for communities it was never built to protect.
The survival of Cuba's socialist project remains one of the most critical holdouts against hemispheric domination, making its defense a global litmus test for sovereignty.
Branding Cuba an "extraordinary threat" on the anniversary of a regional peace declaration, the U.S. has escalated an assault designed to destroy hemispheric solidarity and justify hybrid war.
