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langston hughes - will v-day be me-day too? lyrics

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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 j-ps
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

- langston hughes lyrics

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