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


  • Divided World: The UN Condemnation of Russia is Endorsed by Countries Run by the Richest, Oldest, Whitest People on Earth But Only 41% of the World’s Population
    Roger Stoll
    Divided World: The UN Condemnation of Russia is Endorsed by Countries Run by the Richest, Oldest, Whitest People on Earth But Only 41% of the World’s Population
    28 Mar 2022
    The UN General Assembly vote on Russia's intervention in Ukraine indicates that most of the world's people do not condemn this action. The reality is a far cry from U.S. claims that Russia is…
  • Francia Márquez Mina, a Black woman activist from the predominantly Black and forgotten region of the Pacific coast, is Colombia’s First Black Vice Presidential Candidate.
    Janvieve Williams Comrie
    Francia Márquez: Colombia's First Black Vice Presidential Candidate
    25 Mar 2022
    Francia Márquez Mina, a Black woman activist from the Black region of the Pacific coast, is Colombia’s First Black Vice Presidential Candidate.
  • The Ongoing Covid Disaster
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Ongoing Covid Disaster
    23 Mar 2022
    Pollsters have advised Joe Biden to declare covid over. But the pandemic revealed all the shortcomings of a political system which is dedicated to austerity and to protecting capitalist…
  • Ukraine: War and the Challenge of Human Rights in the United States and Beyond
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Ukraine: War and the Challenge of Human Rights in the United States and Beyond
    23 Mar 2022
    The U.S. justifies wars of aggression in the name of human rights. The term has no meaning domestically either, as the people's needs are subordinated to those of the ruling class.
  • MANIFESTO: The Gary Declaration: Black Politics at the Crossroads, 1972
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    MANIFESTO: The Gary Declaration: Black Politics at the Crossroads, 1972
    23 Mar 2022
    In 1972, thousands of Black people met in Gary, Indiana to establish a political and economic platform that would influence the US presidential elections. The document from this meeting, The National…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us