You and Your Whole Race
You and Your Whole Race - meaning Summary
A Call to Self-respect
Langston Hughes addresses a downtrodden community, urging shame at passivity in the face of poverty and ignorance. The poem criticizes complacency and challenges readers to reclaim dignity and courage. Hughes advances a militant self-respect: freedom arrives when individuals refuse to tolerate exploitation and dare the "evil world" to approach them. The tone shifts from reproach to a defiant call for standing up and resisting oppression.
Read Complete AnalysesYou and your whole race. Look down upon the town in which you live And be ashamed. Look down upon white folks And upon yourselves And be ashamed That such supine poverty exists there, That such stupid ignorance breeds children there Behind such humble shelters of despair— That you yourselves have not the sense to care Nor the manhood to stand up and say I dare you to come one step nearer, evil world, With your hands of greed seeking to touch my throat, I dare you to come one step nearer me: When you can say that you will be free!
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