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

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


  • BAR Book Forum: Ben Conisbee Baer’s “Indigenous Vanguards”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Ben Conisbee Baer’s “Indigenous Vanguards”
    04 Feb 2020
    Spending time in worlds of the past opens a window on how things changed, or stubbornly remained unchanged. 
  • N.J. historic preservation officials insult the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
    Linn Washington Jr.
    N.J. historic preservation officials insult the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.
    04 Feb 2020
    New Jersey was the site of a young Dr King’s very first formal protest and lawsuit, but the state refuses to recognize the events.
  • Between the Great Migration and Growing Exodus: The Future of Black Chicago?
    William Scarborough, Iván Arenas, and Amanda E. Lewis
    Between the Great Migration and Growing Exodus: The Future of Black Chicago?
    04 Feb 2020
    Recent population trends indicate that the city may be at risk of losing its status as a Black mecca.
  • Cornel West on Missing Zinn
    Cornel West and Mordecai Lyon
    Cornel West on Missing Zinn
    04 Feb 2020
    On the tenth anniversary of radical historian Howard Zinn’s death, Cornel West opens up about their friendship and what Zinn would have made of the decade – including whether he would have voted fo
  • Guaido’s Failed Foreign Tour Ends With a Flop
    Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
    Guaido’s Failed Foreign Tour Ends With a Flop
    04 Feb 2020
    As the Feb 11 court date approaches for the US activists that defended the Venezuelan embassy, would-be president Juan Guaido has been reduced to an evil clown.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us