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Let America Be America Again
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—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!— Langston Hughes, excerpt from “Let America Be America Again,” written in 1925
Nearly a hundred years ago, a black American wrote a poem with this conclusion. Graft? Stealth? Lies? It could be ripped from today’s headlines. Yes, Mr. Hughes, once again, let America be America again.
Published in Group Writing
Here is the whole poem.
Hard to peg this Arahant guy. Just when you think you’ve figured out his conservatively-themed rap, he does an unexpected, creative chord change and proves his point.
Read everything Arahant writes! But do not, under any circumstances, play Three Card Monte with him!
Or imagine that you can predict where he’ll discover another interesting fact.
Kind of you, Gary.
You can see the same phenomenon in protest music from the 60s. I direct your attention to Monster (album and song) by Steppenwolf. Half the songs on the album work now. Funny that those protesting then are now the man.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeWZhuzFMM8
Funny. I was thinking an analogous thought while shaving: Namely that the Dead Kennedys song “Nazi Punks, F**** Off!” applies to the ironically-named Antifa.
Shades of The Association.
This one fits particularly well:
Those in the dark, you know they’re no longer blind
They’re breakin’ from your strangle hold on their minds
Those who can see don’t need no one to cross the street
Be careful who you’re pushin’ round
They just might find you obsolete
Remember if you plan to stay
Those who give can take away.
Don’t bite the hand that feeds you
Great commercial! Blast from the past.
The crazy thing, for me, is how the formula seems to apply to all interested parties of the conflict – but, the variables have different values. I sat at lunch a few weeks ago with a friend of mine who has an extremely liberal set of political values, he was an attorney in the NJ AG’s office – intelligent and well-read guy, and he started riffing on the impeachment proceedings. And, at first he wasn’t ‘defining his variables’ in his rant, but he shared similar concerns that I have about misrepresentation in the media, and frustration that people just didn’t understand, etc.
He’d probably be rockin’ to the same Steppenwolf tunes, but have a different vision in his mind.
That thought occurred to me. The second verse of that song has an unflattering description of a politician, that works for your least favorite, regardless of who that might be.
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that is a great poem/quote by langston hughes