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!

 

Š 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


  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    SADC Holds 44th Annual Summit in Zimbabwe as Regional Imperatives Mount
    21 Aug 2024
    Economic integration, peacekeeping and a burgeoning public health crisis take center stage in deliberations.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Pussy’s on the ballot— Again …
    21 Aug 2024
    "Pussy’s on the ballot— Again …" is the latest form BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Anthony Rogers-Wright
    Environmentally, There’s Not Enough Daylight Between Democratic Party Policies and Project 2025 to Fuel a Solar Panel
    21 Aug 2024
    Election season has sparked a frenzy of hysteria around Project 2025 and people are leaning on the Democratic party to stand as an oppositional force. However, just as with many other policies, the…
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    “Reflections on Parenting and Revolutionary Struggle”: An Interview with Steven Salaita
    21 Aug 2024
    “Reflections on Parenting and Revolutionary Struggle” is a space for parent-organizers to share their experiences and struggles with parenting. In this piece, Roberto speaks to Steven Salaita.
  • Jon Jeter
    Screams Without Words: How the White Settler Weaponized Sexual Violence Against Men
    21 Aug 2024
    Settler colonial states always include sexual violence as a function of their domination over the colonized population. The genocide in Gaza by Israel and the sadism it inflicts on the Palestinian…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us