 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Tuesday, July 5, 2022 A poem and a history  Let America Be America Again Langston Hughes 1901-1967This was written in 1935 and published in the July 1936 issue of Esquire Magazine. Think how it must have sounded then, before the Civil Rights Movement or the Voting Rights Act. Segregation was strict and blessed by most churches as well as states.And yet even in the days moving up toward the second world war, it seems we were more capable of seeing ourselves honestly, without hating ourselves. This was published in a mainstream magazine, after all.It is more difficult now for Americans and especially for many Christians to criticize the government without being seen as despising the country.And yet as a people we have always done it.And we have both the freedom and the responsibility to do so.Read this aloud.It still resonates on many levels.And then notice, for all its sensitivity to others, what group of people is NOT mentioned: the women. Even our best poets do not, can not say everything. Women needed to write that story. But what he says matters. Still.And notice that he claims America as his own. That he loves America.Despite the fact that America did not love him.) 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.(America 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.”) Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? And who are you that draws your veil across the stars? I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart, I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars. I am the red man driven from the land, I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek – And finding the same old stupid plan, Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak. I am the young man, full of strength and hope, Tangled in that ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need! Of work the men! Of take the pay! Of owning everything for one’s own greed! I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil. I am the worker sold to the machine. I am the Negro, servant to you all. I am the people, humble, hungry, mean – Hungry yet today despite the dream. Beaten yet today – O pioneers! I am the man who never got ahead, The poorest worker bartered through the years. Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dreamIn the old world while still a serf of kings, Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true, That even yet its mighty daring sings In every brock and stone, in every furrow turned That’s made America the land it has become. O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas In search of what I meant to be my home – For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore, And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea, And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came To build a “homeland of the free.” The free? Who said the free? Not me? Surely not me? The millions on relief today? The millions shot down when we strike? The millions who have nothing for our pay? For all the dreams we’ve dreamed And all the songs we’ve sung And all the hopes we’ve held And all the flags we’ve hung, The millions who have nothing for our pay -Except the dream that’s almost dead today. O, let America be America again -The land that never has been yet – And yet must be – the land where every man is free. The land that’s mine – the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s , ME -Who made America, Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain, Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain, Must bring back our mighty dream again. Sure, call me any ugly name you choose -The steel of freedom does not stain. 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! Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers,The mountains and the endless plain – All, the stretch of these great green states – And make America again! Birthdays and a couple of prayer requests Debra Beal and Deann Megonnell (twins) have birthdays today! We are thankful for both of you – very. Alex Cohen, the 18 yr old son of Lori and Eric Cohen has been diagnoses with multiple sclerosis. This is a treatable, but serious and incurable disease. Please pray for them all. Alex will be a senior this year, and this adjustment is not how he anticipated spending it, for sure. Please pray also for those who were injured in yesterday’s 4th of July mass shooting in Illinois near Chicago, for the families of the six who have died.And pray for the shooter as well. He is a 22 yr old white man who had made violent and disturbing videos before this attack.We believe that the internet should be secure, and safe from surveillance, and yet – and yet – the videos he posted over recent months would have raised every red flag, if police had been able to see them. How we navigate that, I do not know. Pray for wisdom and guidance for policy-makers.We do not yet know how or where he got the weapon he used to shoot so many so easily and quickly – but that easy access is a matter of prayer, too. His recent behavior should have prevented him from obtaining the weapon.Someday we will have to ask whose freedom has to be protected, and when limits on freedom are necessary to achieve that for protection of the majority.  Family Reunions on the 4th of July Yesterday, someone asked why Black Americans celebrate the 4th of July with so much enthusiasm, and often with large family reunions. The primary reason might actually surprise you. Christmas Day and the 4th of July, were “pass days” for enslaved persons, the only times they could move about freely and even visit family members on other farms or plantations who had been sold away – children or husbands separated. It is possible to read first person narratives about this by people who were still alive after slavery ended and able to recount the stories. “For me”, wrote Imara Jones,” it is always important to remember this fact. The food, music, laughter and connection which so many Black people normally have on this day is a connection with our ancestors. It is a reminder that even in the harshest of times we can find ways to love and create joy.” The Rev. Peter Williams In 1830, the Rev. Peter Williams, Jr, the priest at the largest predominantly Black Episcopal Church in NYC gave a passionate speech on July 4.Before that time, there were many white and some Black Americans who believed that America would never be America to the free or enslaved Black population. They had founded the American Colonization Society years earlier to either force, or voluntarily repatriate Black people to Africa.Peter WIlliams opposed it – this is part of what he said:“From various causes, (among which we cheerfully admit a sense of justice to have held no inconsiderable rank) the work of emancipation has within a few years been rapidly advancing i a number of states. The Ste we live in, since the 4th July 1827, has been able to boast that she has no slaves, and other States where there are still slaves appear disposed to follow her example.But, alas! The freedom to which we have attained is defective. Freedom and equality have been “put asunder.” The rights of men are still decided by the color of their skin; there is as much difference made between the rights of a free white man and a free colored man as there are between a free colored man and a slave.”(and then, after arguing against repatriation, he wrote)”We are natives of this country, we ask only to be treated as well as foreigners. Not a few of our fathers suffered and bled to purchase its independence; we ask only to be treated as well as those who fought against it.We have toiled to cultivate it, and to raise it to its present prosperous condition; we ask only to share equal privileges with those who come from distant lands, to enjoy the fruit of our labor.Let those moderate requests be granted, and we need not go to Africa nor anywhere else to be improved and happy.We cannot but doubt the purity of the motives of those persons who deny us these requests and would send us to Africa to gain what they might give us at home.” General Robert E Lee On the 4th of July, 1863, General Robert E Lee began his retreat from Gettysburg. The campaign had been his second attempt to bring the war to the north, and, once again it had failed. Fortunately for Lee, the Army of the Potomac was too weak to pursue, and the Army of Northern Virginia would live to fight another day. And yet, Gettysburg was a turning point in the war. Never again would Confederate soldiers bring the war north. Months later President Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg to help dedicate a resting place for the many who died there. His speech is one many of us memorized as kids – It is worth revisiting that two minute speech..The final phrase is simply: ” – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that the nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”  |
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