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

Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
26 Jul 2023
🖨️ Print Article

Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free! 

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 another Dixie river. Crackers coveting

Choctaw land put the boy in his plantation place… 

 

Crackers coveting Choctaw land gifted 8 Angola yrs,

Under horseback-ridin, shot-gun-totin, tobacco-spittin

gaze; Under King Cotton’s rule; Gifted target embroidered

Jacket— Gifted exile to: City of Angels/ruled by devils…

 

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 of vengeance-driven torture!

 

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, pulling three-deep lines snaked 

‘round crooked corners…holding youth centers, senior

centers, libraries, bookstores captive.

Visualize him home—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!

 

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.



 

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


More Stories


  • Robert Inlakesh
    Anti-NGO Bills – US Poised to Carry Out Witch Hunt against Pro-Palestine Non-Profits
    04 Dec 2024
    Proposed legislation uses the politicized weaponization of governmental power to stymie free speech and actively stamp out pro-Palestinian voices.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio November 29, 2024
    29 Nov 2024
    This week, we discuss the military conflict in Sudan between warring factions. First, we discuss the International Criminal Court, which recently issued arrest warrants for Israeli officials.
  • ICC warrant
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Ali Abunimah on the ICC Arrest Warrants Issued for Israeli Officials
    29 Nov 2024
    Ali Abunimah joins us from Chicago to discuss the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas…
  • People leaving Khartoum, Sudan
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Abayomi Azikiwe Analyses the Conflict in Sudan
    29 Nov 2024
    Abayomi Azikiwe provides analysis on the military conflict in the Sudan which has so far been unresolved despite attempts at peace making.
  • Kamala Harris and Donald Trump
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Fear is Still the Motivation for Black Voters
    27 Nov 2024
    Kamala Harris is now a historical footnote who is heading for the dustbin of history. Yet this harsh truth is avoided by many Black people, who cast aspersions and scorn when they should see the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us