Instead: migration into force and power--
Tuskegee with a new flag on the tower!
on every lynching tree, a poster crying FREE
Because, O poor white workers,
You have linked your hands with me.
We did not know that we were brothers.
Now we know!
out of that brotherhood
Let power grow!
We did not know
That we were strong.
Now we see
In union lies our strength.
Let unions be
The force that breaks the time-clock,
Smashes misery,
Refers to Washington’s concept of prosperity through unity, but with social separation (“separate as the five fingers”). The poem’s speaker takes it further by suggesting that social unity will bring about the ultimate strength and success.
Open Letter to the South