Michael-McCloud T
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Celebrating Black History Month, which begins this year on the 122nd anniversary of the birth of Langston Hughes.

"Let America Be America Again"

Langston Hughes, 1902 - 1967
05:41 PM - Feb 01, 2024
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Michael-McCloud T
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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.)
05:45 PM - Feb 01, 2024
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Michael-McCloud T
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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.)
05:48 PM - Feb 01, 2024
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Michael-McCloud T
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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.”)
05:52 PM - Feb 01, 2024
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Michael-McCloud T
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I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s 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 dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope
05:58 PM - Feb 01, 2024
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Michael-McCloud T
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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’s own greed!
Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave so true
06:05 PM - Feb 01, 2024
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Michael-McCloud T
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That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned That’s made America the land it has become… To build a “homeland of the free.”
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me?
06:13 PM - Feb 01, 2024
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Michael-McCloud T
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For all the dreams weve dreamed
All the songs weve sung
All the hopes weve held
All the flags we’ve 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
06:21 PM - Feb 01, 2024
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Michael-McCloud T
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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 rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
06:25 PM - Feb 01, 2024
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Michael-McCloud T
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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!

(Edited for length. Please read the complete poem in The Collected Poems of #LangstonHughes ) #BlackHistoryMonth
06:31 PM - Feb 01, 2024
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