You cant say I didnt fight
Will the Jim Crow laws still stand?
Thats all I ask of you.
When this war
Is through.
I take munitions through,
Or will you stand up like a man
Will you herd me in a Jim Crow car
At home and take your stand
I am there.
Shall I still be colors slave?
Have learned what this war
When we lay the guns away
When we see Victorys glow,
Here in my own, my native land,
Was fought for us to learn?
When all those foreign folks whove waited--
I promised him that I would try
Dear Fellow Americans,
Hoping times will be better
For Democracy?
Army, Navy, Air Corps--
Our Victory Day
Like cattle?
Will you still let old Jim Crow
I ask, WILL V-DAY
Ive seen my buddy lying
Will I still be ill-fated
in each battle.
GI Joe.
Or will you do me
Ive watched him dying
I wear a U. S. uniform.
Or will Victory change
Hold me back?
I fight--or stevedore, too.
On every battle line,
To smash the Fascists might.
When I take off my uniform,
The Germans and the Japs,
From Burma to the Rhine.
Im a Tan-skinned Yank
When Ive helped this world to save,
To make our land a land
Driving a tank.
Ive driven back
BE ME-DAY, TOO?
Because Im black?
Everywhere.
Thats what I want to know.
Will Dixie lynch me still
When I return?
As a soldier, and a friend.
WILL V-DAY BE ME-DAY, TOO?
As the Germans did the Jews?
Into the Fascists laps.
I face death the same as you do
You cant say I wasnt with you
Ive dropped defeat
Left in our sky.
Over There,
Where he fell.
Or will you comrades in arms
World War II.
I write this letter
From the factories and the farms,
When this war comes to an end,
And thered be no Jim Crow birds
I am a Negro American
Langston Hughes
Where his son could be a man--
Ive done the enemy much harm,
Italians, Chinese, Danes--are liberated.
Will I be safe from harm--
Out to defend my land
So this is what I want to know:
To celebrate
Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too?
Your antiquated views?
Sincerely,
