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


  • Black August Builds on Our Black Radical Traditions
    Charles Brooks
    Black August Builds on Our Black Radical Traditions
    10 Aug 2022
    Black August is the commemoration of actions carried out by revolutionaries ranging from Nat Turner to George Jackson. It is a month to "study, fast, train, and fight" to build the Black radical…
  • BAR Book Forum: Maboula Soumahoro’s “Black is the Journey, Africana the Name”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Maboula Soumahoro’s “Black is the Journey, Africana the Name”
    10 Aug 2022
    This week’s featured author is Maboula Soumahoro. Soumahoro is Associate Professor in the English department of the University of Tours. Her book is Black is the Journey, Africana the Name.
  • BAR Book Forum: Jesse Olsavsky’s Book, “The Most Absolute Abolition”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Jesse Olsavsky’s Book, “The Most Absolute Abolition”
    10 Aug 2022
    This week’s featured author is Jesse Olsavsky. Olsavsky is Assistant Professor of History at Duke Kunshan University in China.. His book is The Most Absolute Abolition: Runaways, Vigilance Committees…
  • Global Solidarity of the Oppressed is the Kryptonite of Zionism and Imperialism
    Mark P. Fancher
    Global Solidarity of the Oppressed is the Kryptonite of Zionism and Imperialism
    10 Aug 2022
    Zionist efforts to influence U.S. elections are not surprising, nor is their concern solely about policy towards Israel. The broader goal is to kill solidarity between the oppressed in this country…
  • Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez Take Office in Colombia
    Peoples Dispatch
    Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez Take Office in Colombia
    10 Aug 2022
    Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez are now President and Vice President of Colombia. Their Historic Pact coalition will face many challenges in fulfilling its commitment to make fundamental change in…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us