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Let America Be America Again

A poem worth remembering, by one of our greats…

Let America Be America Again
by Langston Hughes

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.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

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,
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!

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–
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today–O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m 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’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home–
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

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’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay–
Except the dream that’s 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.
The land that’s mine–the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME–
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.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose–
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

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,
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!

From The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes,
published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Copyright ©
1994 the Estate of Langston Hughes.

Culture, Memory, and Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving in America.

The biggest holiday of the year, some would argue.

For those inclined to reflect on where this day really came from, here are some Wikipedia excerpts.

• The official history claims that the Pilgirms started it all, as we learn in school. Celebrating the harvest and also the generosity of the Native Americans who kept them from starving at the time (the fact that, as a nation, we continuously gloss over the subsequent fate of our generous neighbors is the reason I have chosen, many a time, to boycott celebrating  Thanksgiving all together).
• During the Revolutionary war, it seems like there were lots of Thanksgivings celebrated on the state level, mostly in response to war victories.
• Lincoln then declared it a national holiday in 1863, perhaps in response to the Civil War more than anything else. In his words, “This year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.”
• And Roosevelt shifted it from the last Thursday of the month to the 2nd to last Thursday of the month in1939 because, waddya know, it gave people more time to shop (the Depression and all).

Thanksgiving has now taken on its own life in this country. Food and football and families and lots and lots of forgetting.

Americans are good at that.

For many (if not most) Native American peoples of this country, Thanksgiving is a deeply offensive day. For us, a celebration of what we have, for them, a National Day of Mourning. Let us not forget this. And let us not forget that the native struggle for sovereignty and land rights continues, to this day, all across North America. It is one of the most despicable and invisible cultural legacies of this country — too often overlooked, especially on Thanksgiving, even by those who consider themselves social justice activists (myself at the top the list).

A surprisingly useful page on About.com sums up much of the current struggle quite well. In summary:

Of central concern for many Native American activists is the ability to carry on traditional practices – religious beliefs, languages and other customs – free from discrimination. In response, they continue to fight to protect their rights and religious freedoms, both of which have repeatedly been threatened over the years through denial of access to religious sites, prohibitions on the use or possession of sacred objects, and restrictions on their ability to worship through ceremonial and traditional means. Specific rulings that have threatened them include:

• The Supreme Court, in 1998, allowed the construction of a Forest Service road through an ancient site held sacred by several tribes.
• The Supreme Court, in 1991, ruled that states and localities no longer had to show a “compelling governmental interest” to justify laws that limited or infringed upon religious exercise. (The case involved two Oregon men who were denied unemployment benefits after taking peyote as part of a worship ceremony of the Native American Church).
• Congress passed, and President Clinton signed, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993, which would have restored the “compelling interest” standards that limited government’s ability to enforce legislation that infringes upon religious freedom. However, the Supreme Court soon struck down RFRA as an unconstitutional exercise of Congressional powers.
• 1994 – A law signed by President Clinton exempted the religious use of peyote from federal and state controlled substance laws and prohibited discrimination against those who engage in the use of peyote for religious purposes. Although this protected Native Americans’ use of peyote, the fight to protect other areas of religious freedom continues.

Other Civil Rights priorities include:

• The ongoing battles for voting rights
• The elimination of mascots by schools and professional sports teams considered offensive as they reflect outdated stereotypes and perpetuate racism against Native Americans
• The absence of civil rights organizations to address grievances involving police misconduct and other criminal justice discrimination
• Under-representation in the employment at all levels of all institutions involved in the administration of justice, at the federal, state, and local levels in some states
• Lack of participation in local, state, and federal elections, which results in a lack of political representation at all levels of government, and ensures the continued neglect and inattention to issues of disparity and inequality in the Native American community
• Insufficient training, technical assistance and funding for tribal court systems and tribal law enforcement agencies
• Limited legal resources; victims of discrimination often find it difficult to secure legal representation and public defender programs are felt to be inadequate due to inexperience, lack of funding, and conflicts of interest
• Inadequate hate crime legislation prevent adequate response to crimes involving racial bigotry; tribal governments have not established civil rights offices to assist their constituents in seeking redress

That is just the beginning.

For more info, listen to the American Indian Movement webcast here.

If you know any additional resources, please put them in the comments.

I have struggled a lot with how to be in relation to this holiday, which I have loved since I was a child, and yet which reeks of historical amnesia.

I have boycotted, I have facilitated ceremonies of remembrance before the meal, I have just been angry.

Every year it is a struggle.

How do I honor the struggles behind this day, while also staying connected to my family and culture? How do I celebrate when there is so much to grieve? (knowing that without celebration, we are as good as dead). How do I take responsibility for my cultural heritage without living a life full of shame?

There are so many paradoxes to hold.

The Barbarism of a Nation

Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams, and he was killed by the state this morning at 12:35am. More than 2,000 protesters were on-site to rage and grieve.

51-year-old Williams, a co-founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles, was convicted of murdering four people in 1979. He went on to renounce violence and write anti-gang children’s books.

And my tax dollars killed this guy at 12:35am this morning.

Capital punishment is banned in 91 countries, including all of Europe (except Belarus), Canada, Mexico, Australia, and most of Central and South America.

See Wikipedia’s article for more info.

According to Amnesty International, in 2004 nine out of every ten executions worldwide took place in the People’s Republic of China.