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
  • omnibus

Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
08 Feb 2023
Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!
Image: Carlito Rovira

                                                                                  Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!                                                  

 

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone
too long…
Wanted in the Black Community—
Watts writ large!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone
too long…
Wanted in the Black Community—
Watts writ large!

If 1619 started it—ebony/ivory—
teenage attraction
Jim Crow’s watch—upped the ante!
Deep South apartheid stench/Emmett
Till terror/pitched battles on blood rivers…
What could the boy be but Black rapist?

Bullwhip warped minds of white men—
What could this be but ‘Master’s’
midnight visits to slave quarters—Prying
apart Black thighs—overruling cries, pleas,
Love?
What could the boy be but Black rapist?

Crackers coveted Choctaw land—
Black soil mattered…
More than visiting terror—or
Another muddy, mutilated body in Mississippi
or other Dixie river. Crackers coveting
Choctaw land put boy in plantation place…

Gifted 8 Angola yrs…Under King Cotton’s rule…
Under horseback-ridin, shotgun-totin, tobacco
spittin gaze… Gifted target embroidered
Jacket— Gifted exile: City of Angels/ruled by devils…

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone
too long…
Wanted in the Black Community—
Watts writ large!
Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone
too long…
Wanted in the Black Community—
Watts writ large!

His numbers are no longer:
“6-3-4-5-7-8-9”
no longer:
“Beechwood 4-5-7-8-9”
far too long his numbers been:
#A92051 #T115— 83—Caged since
’63— 60 yrs vengeance-driven torture!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone
too long…
Wanted in the Black Community—
Watts writ large!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone
too long…
Wanted in the Black Community—
Watts writ large!

Visualize him home—sun splashing light comic
book bright colors of L.A. murals!
Visualize him home, holding youth
centers, Senior centers, libraries,
bookstores
Captive. Pulling three-deep lines snaked
‘round crooked corners…
Space, light, air, freedom to stretch out in sensory
overload!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone
too long…
Wanted in the Black Community—
Watts writ large!

Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone
too long…
Wanted in the Black Community—
Watts writ large!
No mo’ Golden State gulag/COVID
concentration camp—
No mo’ Octogenarian barrister behind bars
law book-lifting—iron-pumping mind:

No mo’ memoranda, motion, writ and plea
No mo’ heroic, litigious—War of the Flea—
No mo’ symbol of strength/wisdom of tree—
People, Ruchell Magee must be set Free!
Governor, Ruchell Magee must be set Free!
People, Ruchell Magee must be set Free!

© 2023. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at: GoFundMe and PayPal.

Ruchell Magee
Free All Political Prisoners
political prisoners

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Safiya Bukhari
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: On the Question of Political Prisoners, Safiya Bukhari,1995
07 August 2024
To commemorate Black August, read Safiya Bukhari's essay on political
Joan Gibbs
Matt Tracy
Joan Gibbs, Renowned Lesbian Activist and Attorney, Dies at 71
10 April 2024
Joan Gibbs, long time civil rights attorney and activist, is remembered for her deep commitment to her community and for social justice.
Sekou Odinga
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
STATEMENT: From Sekou Odinga–New Afrikan Prisoner of War, 1982
24 January 2024
The late African revolutionary Sekou Odinga in his own words.
Ralph Poynter delivered a solidarity message from Lynne Stewart
Lallan Schoenstein
Ralph Poynter Used His Strong Voice and Stout Heart to Fight for Justice
10 January 2024
Ralph Poynter was a pioneer in the fight against white supremacy, oppression, and injustice around the world.
Orisanmi Burton and his book, "Tip of the Sphere"
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Orisanmi Burton’s Book, “Tip of the Spear”
25 October 2023
This week’s featured author is Orisanmi Burton.
LETTER: For George, The Seventh of August Movement, 1971
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
LETTER: For George, The Seventh of August Movement, 1971
16 August 2023
A letter commemorating George Jackson speaks to the origins of Black August.
Black August for the Pendleton 2
Too Black
Black August for the Pendleton 2
16 August 2023
Black August is an important month of political education, but it should not solely be about the past.
Mutulu Shakur
Akinyele Umoja
Mutulu Shakur
12 July 2023
Mutulu Shakur passed away just seven months after being paroled.
COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War, Exiles Are on the Agenda of a UN Panel
Efia Nwangaza
COINTELPRO/Civil Rights Era Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War, Exiles Are on the Agenda of a UN Panel
03 May 2023
A United Nations panel of experts is in the US investigating the condition of political prisoners held in this country.
I AM FOR THE RIGHT TO BE FREE!!!!
Shaka Shakur
I AM FOR THE RIGHT TO BE FREE!!!!
05 April 2023
Shaka Shakur is a revolutionary New Afrikan prisoner who has spent the past two decades incarcerated by the Indiana Department of Corrections o

More Stories


  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Malcolm X and Human Rights in the Time of Trumpism: Transcending the Masters Tools
    21 May 2025
    Malcolm X understood that “oppressed peoples must commit themselves to radical political struggle in order to advance a dignified approach to human rights.” What’s needed is a bottom-up mass movement…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
    21 May 2025
    "A few lines for the Poet Ojenke..." is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • The Cradle News Desk
    Israel Kills Five Journalists, Over 100 Civilians in One Night as ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ Begins in Gaza
    21 May 2025
    The Israeli army has intensified attacks on hospitals as part of the new operation, which aims to displace the entire population of Gaza.
  • Natalia Marques
    New Jersey Fights Mass Deportations at the Newly-Minted Delaney Hall Detention Center
    21 May 2025
    The Trump administration opens a new ICE detention center in New Jersey’s biggest city and a hub for immigrant communities, earning a bold response from immigrant rights organizers.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 16, 2025
    16 May 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss the modern history of Black politics in the city of Newark, New Jersey, after the death of a long-serving former mayor and the arrest and brief detention of the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us