
<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div dir="ltr"><span style="caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); color: rgb(52, 52, 52); font-family: "Poets Electra Roman No 2"; font-size: 2.5rem; font-style: italic; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Let America Be America Again</span><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0in;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">by Langston Hughes </span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0in;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">Let America be America again.</span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Let it be the dream it used to be.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Let it be the pioneer on the plain</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Seeking a home where he himself is free.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">(America never was America to me.)</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Let it be that great strong land of love</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">That any man be crushed by one above.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">(It never was America to me.)</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">O, let my land be a land where Liberty</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">But opportunity is real, and life is free,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Equality is in the air we breathe.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">(There’s never been equality for me,</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?</span></em></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><i><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?</span></i></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">I am the red man driven from the land,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">And finding only the same old stupid plan</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">I am the young man, full of strength and hope,</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Tangled in that ancient endless chain</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Of work the men! Of take the pay!</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Of owning everything for one’s own greed!</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">I am the worker sold to the machine.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">I am the Negro, servant to you all.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Hungry yet today despite the dream.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">I am the man who never got ahead,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">The poorest worker bartered through the years.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">In the Old World while still a serf of kings,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">That even yet its mighty daring sings</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">That’s made America the land it has become.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">In search of what I meant to be my home—</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">To build a “homeland of the free.”</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">The free?</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(52, 52, 52); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(30, 30, 30, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;"><span class="long-line"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);">Who said the free? Not me?</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Surely not me? The millions on relief today?</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">The millions shot down when we strike?</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">The millions who have nothing for our pay?</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">For all the dreams we’ve dreamed</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">And all the songs we’ve sung</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">And all the hopes we’ve held</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">And all the flags we’ve hung,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">The millions who have nothing for our pay—</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Except the dream that’s almost dead today.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><span class="long-line" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">O, let America be America again—</span></span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 52, 52);"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">The land that never has been yet—</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">And yet must be—the land where</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">every</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="long-line">man is free.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Who made America,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="long-line"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block;">Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br></span></div>—————————————————<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/">http://www.moscowcares.com/</a></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>