How relavent is this in today's world?

[Droopy]

Here's a poem that I had to write a paper about for my literary analysis class. It got me thinking about a couple of things.

"Dinner Guest: Me" by Langston Hughes written in 1965

I know I am
The Negro Problem
Being wined and dined,
Answering the usual questions
That come to white mind
Which seeks demurely
To probe in polite way
The why and wherewithal
Of darkness U.S.A.-
Wondering how things got this way
In current democratic night,
Murmuring gently
Over fraises du bois,
"I'm so ashamed of being white."

The lobster is delicious,
The wine divine,
And center of attention
At the damask table, mine.
To be a Problem on
Park Avenue at eight
Is not so bad.
Solutions to the Problem,
Of course, wait.

I'm white and I spent the first seven years of my education going to a mostly black school. I was friendly with everybody, but I really didn't have any friends. My first taste of racism occurred when I was in the second grade. When I went to talk to a boy who I thought I was friends with one day he told me that his dad told him not to talk to any of the white kids at school.

When I was twelve my parents moved us out of the city and into an all-white suburb. They said they thought that the city schools were going to be too rough for me and my sister now that we were getting older. I'm pretty sure race was a factor in making the move.

In the city where we used to live, there are still racial divides. The east side is predominantly white while the west side is predominanlty black. Both sides have their fair share of crime.

I think this poem is as relavent today as it was in 1965. We still have racism and unspoken segregation. The fight for equality and justice is still on. Racism is still alive and well and it cuts both ways.

[DrWeird]

1. Jonathon Kozol was fired for reading a Hughes poem..

to his mostly black, inner city elementary school class.

[Droopy]

2. That's amazing

I don't see how anyone could be so narrow minded. Hughes spoke of equality. I don't understamd how a school wouldn't want their students, especially blacks, to be exposed to his poetry.

What year did this guy get fired? I know Hughes was investigated back in the fifties for alledgedly being a communist sympathizer. He was a part of that whole McCarthy thing.