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bondjam33 70M
887 posts
9/23/2020 4:02 am
Let America Be America Again - a poem by Langston Hughes


Writen in 1935 this poem is eerily true today and epitomises what Make America Great Again really means.

Let America Be America Again

Langston Hughes - 1902-1967

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(Theres never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this homeland of the free)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slaverys scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for ones own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet Im the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
Thats made America the land it has become.
O, Im the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For Im the one who left dark Irelands shore,
And Polands plain, and Englands grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africas strand I came
To build a -homeland of the free.

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams weve dreamed
And all the songs weve sung
And all the hopes weve held
And all the flags weve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream thats almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land thats mine—the poor mans, Indians, Negros, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the peoples lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The r+pe and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!

bondjam33 70M
840 posts
9/23/2020 4:09 am

Discuss


Hawkslayer 88M
13326 posts
9/23/2020 5:46 am

Too true!!

It only takes a drop of ink to make a million people think. There are many stories.


jiminycricket1 74M
13732 posts
9/23/2020 7:31 am

Perfect..
The question is do we have the courage, Do we have the strength. Do we have the undeniable purpose... To make the American dream be America again.


TxJW_77 81M

9/23/2020 11:40 am

When a capitalist determines how much your time is worth and writes a check for your allowance he owns you.
On election day you have a choice between two candidates both bought & paid for with campaign funds from the corporations they represent.
I am not making it up it is in your face.
Party On!


bondjam33 70M
840 posts
9/23/2020 2:03 pm

samtheman -- your post was deleted. You had your hour


TxJW_77 81M

9/23/2020 4:17 pm

Freedom is when you are the capitalist and not working for the other guy.
America was set up by and for capitalists. in the beginning only those who owned property could vote. Naturally those who owned property were self employed voters.
Working class people who vote and think they are capitalist repubs are deceiving themselves. LOL
Party On!


TxJW_77 81M

9/23/2020 5:09 pm

So the solution now is like it has always been. In order to be free you must become a capitalist in America. It was set up that way and so it remains.

Quit the day job---get a bank loan---break out the old college business 101 book. LOLOL

Otherwise forget it you can't win.


TxJW_77 81M

9/24/2020 3:51 am

In a way it seems to compare to what the commies call the dictatorship of the proletariat but we are free to call it capitalism.
But what the heck do I know? I'm just a small town Texas guy. LOL
I will just stick with animal husbandry (raising cows). LOL
Party On!