Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too?
Over There,
World War II.
Dear Fellow Ameris,
I write this letter
Hoping times will be better
When this war
Is through.
Im a Tan-skinned Yank
Driving a tank.
I ask, WILL V-DAY
BE ME-DAY, TOO?
I wear a U. S. uniform.
Ive dohe enemy much harm,
Ive driven back
The Germans and the Japs,
From Burma to the Rhine.
On every battle line,
Ive dropped defeat
Into the Fascists laps.
I am a Negro Ameri
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.
Ive seen my buddy lying
Where he fell.
Ive watched him dying
I promised him that I would try
To make our land a land
Where his son could be a man--
And thered be no Jim Crow birds
Left in our sky.
So this is what I want to know:
When we see Victlow,
Will you still let old Jim Crow
Hold me back?
When all those fn folks whove waited--
Italians, ese, Danes--are liberated.
Will I still be ill-fated
Because Im 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 rades 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 Ive helped this world to save,
Shall I still be colors slave?
Or will Victory ge
Your antiquated views?
You t say I didnt fight
To smash the Fascists might.
You t say I wasnt with you
in each battle.
As a soldier, and a friend.
When this war es 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?
Thats all I ask of you.
When we lay the guns away
To celebrate
Our Victory Day
WILL V-DAY BE ME-DAY, TOO?
Thats what I want to know.
Sincerely,
GI Joe.
Langston Hughes