Sunday Reflection: "Never Was America To Me"

 

"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.

(There’s never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

-- an excerpt from "Let America Be America Again" by renowned poet, novelist, playwright and activist Langston Hughes (2/1/1901 - 5/22/1967).  Hughes was one of the giants of the Harlem Renaissance of the early 20th century, one of the great cultural and artistic movements in American history that redefined what it meant to be an African American in the U.S.  His words reflected the bitter reality of the racism, inequality, and hatred that gave lie to many myths about our nation, and still hold true today.

(photo: Hughes in Harlem, 1958. Robert W Kelley/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)