When will America be America again?

     "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."  - Langston Hughes, Let America be America Again.

    Hughes wrote this poem in 1935, speaking on how the American dream didn't exist for lower class and minority Americans.  He details the the hardships impoverished, African-Americans, Native Americans, and also immigrants, mentioning places like, Ireland, England, and Poland.    Hughes makes a point to be inclusive about who was fooled by the American dream (the answer to which is everyone).   However despite Hughes' remarks about its shortcomings, he is hopeful about America's future, calling his audience to action and claiming that "America will be!" and we will "make America again!" 

    However this poem was written in 1935, and in 2022 can we truly say that America is America again?  Most would argue not.  87 years since the poem's publishing, and it's hard to say that Hughes' hope that "every man is free" has not completely come to fruition yet.  Sure it is easy to say the world is different since 1935, but we are not free of our problems when it comes to the experience of the impoverished and the minorities in America, and that has been especially clear.   How long will it take till these issues are gone and America is America again?  I don't know.  Will they ever be gone?   It's hard to say.  To hope that the America can live up to its previous "American dream" seems like such a long shot with these uncertainties.  We can only hope and help catalyze change to our best ability, so that later on America, and the world, may be just a bit closer to that dream.