Wednesday, March 12, 2014

"What happens to a dream deferred?"

So I guess that today Rep. Paul Ryan said this:
We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with.
Yes, we all know that when he uses the euphemism of "inner cities," he's talking about black men. And all of the sudden, my head explodes with images of:
  • Slavery
  • Jim Crowe
  • Dred Scott
  • Lynchings
  • Grown men called "boy"
  • "No blacks need apply"
  • Red lines
  • Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers assassinated
  • The War on black people Drugs 
  • The Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline
And then I think about the question Langston Hughes asked:
What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore -
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over -
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

2 comments:

  1. Eve'nin, Nancy

    You're JAMmin' as always

    Well done and thank you

    ReplyDelete
  2. sometimes I just want to scream and shout....sometimes I jus t want to cry...I often wonder if there is a way to reach those Americans who are believe Ryan's racist comments....but I know that we must continue to fight for Freedom...Justice ...Equality.....Ain't gonna Let Paul Ryan turn us around....
    .........Sweet Honey and the Rock....
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Z1trynEHs

    ReplyDelete

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