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


  • stop the raids
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Stop the NYPD and Federal Raids
    25 Apr 2025
    Stop the Raids NYC is hosting an event in Brooklyn, New York, Satur
  • presidents
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Bush, Obama, and Biden Gave Trump the Tools for Repression
    23 Apr 2025
    Donald Trump is thought of as a terrible president who doesn’t care about humanity. While that assertion is true, he had lots of help from his like-minded predecessors in developing plans for war and…
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    U.S. and Israel Gangsterism Has Created a Hobbesian International State of Nature
    23 Apr 2025
    Gaza has exposed the West’s ‘human rights’ as a colonial farce. Now, the world is experiencing a descent into imperial barbarism, and only collective resistance can build a future beyond fascism.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    Introduction: The Black Messiah, Albert B. Cleage, Jr., 1968
    23 Apr 2025
    “Jesus was a revolutionary black leader, a Zealot, seeking to lead a Black Nation to freedom.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Power Shift in the Horn of Africa: Somalia Recognizes SSC-Khaatumo
    23 Apr 2025
    Somalia’s recognition of SSC-Khaatumo as its sixth Federal Member State (FMS) has radically shifted the Horn of Africa’s geopolitical dynamics, with implications for Israel, Palestine, and Ansar…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us