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


  • Jim Crow Still Lives in Hollywood
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Jim Crow Still Lives in Hollywood
    19 Aug 2019
    The US film industry is more open to Black themes and participation than in the past, but still has not answered the question of what kind of society it will project, said Maryann Erig
  • Trump Isn’t Special: All US Presidents Support White Supremacy
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Trump Isn’t Special: All US Presidents Support White Supremacy
    19 Aug 2019
    William C Anderson, author of a recent article titled, “Using Patriotism to Deflect Racism is a Deadly Mistake,” said “the Oval Office is quite familiar” with white supremacists li
  • Black Is Back Coalition Holds National Conference in St. Louis
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Black Is Back Coalition Holds National Conference in St. Louis
    19 Aug 2019
    Che Guevara’s call for “one, two, many Vietnams” to resist US imperialism has been answered in the 21st century by the rise of China and a multi-polar world, said BAR executive editor 
  • Why the Rich Want to Bury Bernie, the Not-Really-Socialist 
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Why the Rich Want to Bury Bernie, the Not-Really-Socialist 
    15 Aug 2019
    Sanders is fighting capitalist austerity, not capitalist rule, but austerity is ruling class policy, so the Democratic Party must stop him.
  • Freedom Rider: No Racism, Just Russians
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: No Racism, Just Russians
    14 Aug 2019
    The absurd claim that Russians have orchestrated US racial strife is designed to nullify Black outrage and discredit those who fight oppression.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us