How Can America Be Great?

The Answer’s Been Here All Along

À propos of my Fourth of July post, friend Jacquie today sent a poem written in 1935 by Langston Hughes, “Let America Be America Again”. Here are a few opening lines. I encourage you to click the link and read all of it.

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.")

Sadly, it’s message still rings loud and clear today, 90 years later. It brings to mind a song written by Pete Seeger in 1955, where he asks, “When will we ever learn?” And another by Bob Dylan from 1962, which asks questions like:

Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn’t see?

Indeed, when will we ever learn? Maybe the answer’s already here and has been all along, all around, blowing in the wind. If we would but open our hearts and listen for it. And then, in this action year of the Fire Horse, get moving to make it happen!

Click to see Pete Seeger singing “Where have all the flowers gone” and Bob Dylan singing “Blowin’ in the Wind”.