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


  • Sudan Transition May Work
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Sudan Transition May Work
    13 Aug 2019
    The agreement reached between civilians and the Sudanese military to share power in a three-year transitional government has a good chance to succeed if peace agreements can be finalized with armed
  • US Black Peace Delegation Returns from Venezuela
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    US Black Peace Delegation Returns from Venezuela
    13 Aug 2019
    A delegation of the Black Alliance for Peace was honored by the Venezuelan government and citizens for taking part in protecting that nation’s embassy in Washington from takeover by coup plotters.
  • Fight Mass Incarceration Like Our Ancestors Fought Slavery
    Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
    Fight Mass Incarceration Like Our Ancestors Fought Slavery
    13 Aug 2019
    “It’s remarkable how much the prison system looks like the institution of slavery,” said Kellie Jackson, author of “Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of
  • American Exceptionalism = Mass Murder
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    American Exceptionalism = Mass Murder
    08 Aug 2019
    U.S. police agencies, including the FBI, are incapable of mounting an effective offensive against their soul mates in the armed white right.
  • Biden “Looked Like a Buffalo Cornered by Hyenas”
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Biden “Looked Like a Buffalo Cornered by Hyenas”
    07 Aug 2019
    Joe Biden was made to answer for many of his political crimes.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us