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

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Twenty Years of Black Agenda Report
28 October 2026
Reaching a 20th anniversary for Black Agenda Report is indeed a milestone.
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


  • The Pervasive Power of the Settler Mindset
    Nikhil Pal Singh
    The Pervasive Power of the Settler Mindset
    04 Dec 2019
    The destructive premise at the core of the American settler narrative is that freedom is built upon the violent elimination of other peoples.
  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of December 2, 2019
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of December 2, 2019
    03 Dec 2019
    Haitians Blame US and France for Corrupt Regime
  • Mumia to Address December 9 Conference in Philadelphia
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Mumia to Address December 7 Conference in Philadelphia
    03 Dec 2019
    The nation’s best known political prisoner will mark his 38th year behind bars by addressing a “Youth Rise Up Against Empire” event in his hometown. Mumia Abu Jamal 
  • A "Fighting United Front” for Community Control of Police
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    A "Fighting United Front” for Community Control of Police
    03 Dec 2019
    Eight hundred delegates to the newly re-founded National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression chose veteran organizer Frank Chapman as their executive directo
  • Dr Gerald Horne: Africans See China as Counterweight to US and Europe
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Dr Gerald Horne: Africans See China as Counterweight to US and Europe
    03 Dec 2019
    In contrast to US hysteria over China’s growing role in world affairs, “in Africa itself, it’s felt that there needs to be a counterweight to the North Atlantic powers, and they feel that China hel
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us