This Independence Day & Langston Hughes

from Democracy & Freedom's Plow

Democracy will not come
Today, this year
     Nor ever
Through compromise and fear...

I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I'm dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow's bread...
_________

American is a dream.
The poet says it was promises.
The people say it is promises - that will come true.
The people do not always say things out loud,
Nor write them down on paper....
The people do not always understand each other.
But there is, somewhere these,
Always the trying to understand,
And the trying to say,
"You are a man. Together we are building our land."

America!
Land created in common,
Dream nourished in common,
Keep your hand on the plow! Hold on!

     ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.

     NO MAN IS GOOD ENOUGH TO
     GOVERN ANOTHER MAN WITHOUT
     THAT OTHER'S CONSENT.

     BETTER DIE FREE, THAN LIVE SLAVES.

Who said those things?  Americans!
Who owns those words? Americans!
Who is America? You, Me!
We are America!
To the enemy who would conquer us from without,
We say, NO!
To the enemy who would divide us from within,
We say, NO!...

To all the enemies of our great words:
We say, NO!