By Phillipp Williams
Pioneer Charter School

A literary response to Langston Hughes’ poem “Dinner Guest: Me” and Claude McKay’s poem “The Lynching”

 

Yes, I said it. I’m a Negro.

I see lots of people winning and dinning.

What’s the difference between whites and blacks?

Are they polite?

Do my people, my brothers and sisters, my black community, do we have to hide in darkness

because of our skin color?

I wonder how did things get this way?

We all have problems.

Our spirit lives on like any other human being.

Can I go to heaven? Can I do the right things to get me there?

Some days I feel awful thinking about the things I’ve done.

Sometimes I feel forgotten because of my race.

I feel pitiful.

Yes, we all live in mixed colors, but we shouldn’t paint problems.

The sun having a tangerine orange sun set.

My people being lynched, hanging from the trees.

Yes, I am a Negro.

Most of my people are poor, I feel bad to say or see that.

Those black men I see making deals on street corners.

What makes us want to kill our own race?

We all live and die, but in violent ways.

I hear voices echoing the call for peace,

a house, some food, money anything!

I am that black man you talk about,

I am a Negro… and I’m PROUD of it.