Harlem – Langston Hughes (1951)
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?
Our four year nightmare is over.
We streamed Joe Biden’s victory speech on Saturday night. I don’t often listen to political speeches in full — I think few people do. But I was moved by Biden alluding to being a “beacon” (a shining city on a hill), by his speaking a hymn of comfort (“On Eagle’s Wings”), by his referring to America’s great literary tradition of giving voice to the voiceless.
Biden repeatedly thanked the black community. “When this campaign was at its lowest ebb, the African American community stood up again for me. You always have my back, and I’ll have yours.”
The line that spoke to me most directly, in light of the Black Lives Matter protests earlier this year was this:
“Make no mistake: Too many dreams have been deferred for too long.”
A dream deferred… he must be referring to one of the great poems of America, Montage of a Dream Deferred or Harlem by Langston Hughes. The poem, above, comes from a time when the racism that plagues our country today was more visible, more obvious, when we didn’t pretend we weren’t racist. Langston Hughes, like other great black people before him, was educated, able, talented, and driven. But he, like his community, was denied opportunity, wealth, housing, and justice because of the color of his skin. America has long dangled true equality just out of reach of the black community. “If you do this, if you do that…”
We could feel the crackle in the air this summer. Dreams can only be tamped down for so long.
I miss hearing presidents speak to America in the language of us speaking to ourselves. I miss arts and science being present in the White House, of the president meeting and promoting poets, artists, chemists, and historians.
Biden continued with a sentence that showed that he understood the problem. The black community has not had equal access to their dreams, which is the promise of this country.
“We must make the promise of the country real for everybody,” Biden said. “No matter their race, their ethnicity, their faith, their identity or their disability.”
I’ll leave you with the text of the hymn Biden spoke at the end of the speech. I hope we are, on eagle’s wings, able to overcome our troubles as a nation.
And he will raise you up on eagle's wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn,
make you to shine like the sun,
and hold you in the palm of his hand.
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