{"id":28086,"date":"2023-08-22T13:37:21","date_gmt":"2023-08-22T20:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28086"},"modified":"2023-08-22T13:37:22","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T20:37:22","slug":"let-america-be-america-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/08\/22\/let-america-be-america-again\/","title":{"rendered":"LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A poet, novelist, fiction writer, and playwright, Langston Hughes is known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties and was important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Langston Hughes<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1901 \u2013 1967<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(America never was America to me.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed\u2014
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(It never was America to me.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(There\u2019s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this \u201chomeland of the free.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?<\/em>
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery\u2019s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek\u2014
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 one\u2019s own greed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2014
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today\u2014O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet I\u2019m 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
That\u2019s made America the land it has become.
O, I\u2019m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home\u2014
For I\u2019m the one who left dark Ireland\u2019s shore,
And Poland\u2019s plain, and England\u2019s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa\u2019s strand I came
To build a \u201chomeland of the free.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The free?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 we\u2019ve dreamed
And all the songs we\u2019ve sung
And all the hopes we\u2019ve held
And all the flags we\u2019ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay\u2014
Except the dream that\u2019s almost dead today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O, let America be America again\u2014
The land that never has been yet\u2014
And yet must be\u2014the land where every<\/em> man is free.
The land that\u2019s mine\u2014the poor man\u2019s, Indian\u2019s, Negro\u2019s, ME\u2014
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose\u2014
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people\u2019s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath\u2014
America will be!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape 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\u2014
All, all the stretch of these great green states\u2014
And make America again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes<\/em>, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright \u00a9 1994 the Estate of Langston Hughes. Used with permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A poet, novelist, fiction writer, and playwright, Langston Hughes is known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties and was important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes 1901 \u2013 1967 Let America be America again.Let it… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[775,979],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28086"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28087,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28086\/revisions\/28087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}