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


  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    02 Dec 2020
    This week the ideological education of the working class, the need for socialism, and the aims of a Biden administration were on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s “Collective Courage”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Jessica Gordon Nembhard’s “Collective Courage”
    02 Dec 2020
    Many of the great African American thinkers, movers, and shakers were also leaders in the Black cooperative movement.
  • BAR Book Forum: Ana-Maurine Lara’s “Queer Freedom : Black Sovereignty” and “Streetwalking”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Ana-Maurine Lara’s “Queer Freedom : Black Sovereignty” and “Streetwalking”
    02 Dec 2020
    The author wants us to deepen our analysis of how power moves through the world to constrain Black life, and how queer Black people resist these constraints.  
  • How to Prevent Up to 40 Million People from Being Evicted
    Jerusalem Demsas
    How to Prevent Up to 40 Million People from Being Evicted
    02 Dec 2020
    Millions of Americans face eviction in a “completely predictable and entirely preventable” crisis as the CDC’s moratorium is set to expire on New Year’s Eve.
  • Study Shows Blacks and Latinos Make Up Bulk of Temporary “Gig” Workers
    Seth Sandronsky
    Study Shows Blacks and Latinos Make Up Bulk of Temporary “Gig” Workers
    02 Dec 2020
    Eighty-three percent of blue-collar temp assignments are staffed by non-white workers in Illinois, a state where non-white workers are just 35 percent of the workforce.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us