Saturday – July 4th
To understand the urge behind the Black Lives Matter movement, check out Langston Hughes’s response to Walt Whitman. Although Whitman himself would have thoroughly embraced Hughes, too many people only see white people when they read “I Hear America Singing”:
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
Hughes reminds us that people of color are also part of this chorus. I think of my own brown-skinned grandchildren when I read it and hope that others too will see how beautiful they are. Although America no longer segregates them to the kitchen, I worry that far to many of my fellow citizens will see only their own fears when they look at them.
In other words, America still has considerable work to live up to its founding promise.
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
I, too, am America.
