Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too?
de Langston Hughes(2005)
2 min lectură
Mediu
Over There,
World War II.
Dear Fellow Americans,
I write this letter
Hoping times will be better
When this war
Is through.
I\'m a Tan-skinned Yank
Driving a tank.
I ask, WILL V-DAY
BE ME-DAY, TOO?
I wear a U. S. uniform.
I\'ve done the enemy much harm,
I\'ve driven back
The Germans and the Japs,
From Burma to the Rhine.
On every battle line,
I\'ve dropped defeat
Into the Fascists\' laps.
I am a Negro American
Out to defend my land
Army, Navy, Air Corps--
I am there.
I take munitions through,
I fight--or stevedore, too.
I face death the same as you do
Everywhere.
I\'ve seen my buddy lying
Where he fell.
I\'ve watched him dying
I promised him that I would try
To make our land a land
Where his son could be a man--
And there\'d be no Jim Crow birds
Left in our sky.
So this is what I want to know:
When we see Victory\'s glow,
Will you still let old Jim Crow
Hold me back?
When all those foreign folks who\'ve waited--
Italians, Chinese, Danes--are liberated.
Will I still be ill-fated
Because I\'m black?
Here in my own, my native land,
Will the Jim Crow laws still stand?
Will Dixie lynch me still
When I return?
Or will you comrades in arms
From the factories and the farms,
Have learned what this war
Was fought for us to learn?
When I take off my uniform,
Will I be safe from harm--
Or will you do me
As the Germans did the Jews?
When I\'ve helped this world to save,
Shall I still be color\'s slave?
Or will Victory change
Your antiquated views?
You can\'t say I didn\'t fight
To smash the Fascists\' might.
You can\'t say I wasn\'t with you
in each battle.
As a soldier, and a friend.
When this war comes to an end,
Will you herd me in a Jim Crow car
Like cattle?
Or will you stand up like a man
At home and take your stand
For Democracy?
That\'s all I ask of you.
When we lay the guns away
To celebrate
Our Victory Day
WILL V-DAY BE ME-DAY, TOO?
That\'s what I want to know.
Sincerely,
GI Joe.