Dennis Brutus: A Memorial Statement (Obituary‪)‬

Much can and has been said about the loving and nurturing characteristics of Dennis Brutus and his politico-literary contributions. Those who knew him understood how much he encouraged future generations of radicals and poets. His written word was often breathtaking, and few have so movingly grieved of injustice combined with incarceration (Letters to Martha and Sirens, Knuckles and Boots during the mid-1960s), exile (e.g, Poems from Algiers and China Poems during the 1970s), and social struggle (Stubborn Hope and Salutes and Censures). Context is crucial to knowing Brutus' poetry. After risking his life repeatedly to end apartheid, he was terribly angry about post-1994 South Africa. Until the point he died on December 26, 2009, he railed against worsening inequality, reflected in a recent SA government report that confessed whites enjoy real income one quarter higher today than in 1994, while blacks actually lost real income.