Whenever I read Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes I think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I have a dream speech; Dr. King had a vision of equality among people of all races. Langston Hughes does address the problem of race and ethnicity and the lack of equality among people as human beings. However he also address the underlying issue of inequality among people of different social and economic classes. This inequality he is speaking of is not just an issue between people that are black or white. Langston Hughes expresses that this uneven economic playing field is an issue that is effecting all races and backgrounds. The economic disadvantage that races experience in this “free country” makes it near impossible to reach that American dream that everyone strives for. Hughes says therefore because of this equality American was never really America at all.
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.
In this first stanza Langston Hughes is going straight for the roots of the American dream. Because really the American dream started when this land was conquered and it was cultivated with the push for westward expansion and manifest destiny. That seed of “owning your own” and “being better off” grew into the essence of what the American dream is today. American’s want to own their own homes, cars, and businesses. Americans want to go to school so they can make more money and essentially live better lives. The whole underlying foundation to that dream is freedom. Overall no matter where you’re from, what you’re race is, or what your past is like we all want freedom.
Throughout the poem Hughes writes things like “Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—Let it be that great strong land of love”. He also writes “...But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.” In lines like this he is describing what America is known for and how America is often viewed by people on the outside looking in. He describes how people looking to escape to a place where equality is in the air we breathe. However for some people running away from their home country might be like jumping out of the pot into the fire because “America never was America to me”.
Overall I can relate to this poem, America is my home and has always been my home it is where I was born and for the most part raised. However this is not the case for my parents because they were not born here. But they moved here because they had heard that America was the land of endless opportunity and question less equality (“But opportunity is real, and life is free”). Both my parents comes to realize that there are opportunities in America but there are not equal. Sometimes I wonder if they had choose another country to come to would things be better for them. Is the freedom they were told they would receive here any different from freedom they can receive somewhere else.
In the end of the poem Langston hughes urges America to take back America and make it truly America. He simply asking the people who are affected by this misleading dream to make it a reality. The true face of America may not line up with the portrayal or vision of America but that does not mean it never will and they doesn’t mean we can’t make it real.
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!
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