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


  • Striking Chicago Teachers Refused to Give in, Condemn Mayor’s Austerity Budget
    Peoples Dispatch Staff
    Striking Chicago Teachers Refused to Give in, Condemn Mayor’s Austerity Budget
    30 Oct 2019
    Chicago’s teachers are demanding the city fund social supports for communities, as well as teachers, but the mayor is crying broke.
  • GM Workers Ratify Contract Though "Mixed at Best"
    by Chris Brooks, Jane Slaughter
    GM Workers Ratify Contract Though "Mixed at Best"
    30 Oct 2019
    The strike failed to dismantle GM’s multi-“tiered” labor system, or to forestall plant closings.
  • Unpacking The Super Exploitation of Black Women
    Erica Caines
    Unpacking The Super Exploitation of Black Women
    30 Oct 2019
    The liberal misinterpretation of identity politics, that favors progressive neoliberals, has dismissed the innate radicalism of a workers centered Black feminism.
  • Western Progressives and the Imperialist Inquisition
    Stephen Sefton
    Western Progressives and the Imperialist Inquisition
    30 Oct 2019
    Most Western “progressives,” while unable to defend their own majority populations, are more than willing to attack Venezuela and Nicaragua.
  • In Sudan, Demands for Justice and Accountability Remain Unmet
    Pavan Kulkarni
    In Sudan, Demands for Justice and Accountability Remain Unmet
    30 Oct 2019
    Tens of thousands of Sudanese took to the streets, demanding a ban on the party of ousted president Omar al-Bashir and justice for the victims of the June 3 massacre.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us