Equality is in the Air We Breathe – Gwyneth Walker | Singing Quakers

Friends University Singing Quakers
Rayvon T. J. Moore, conductor

“Equality is in the Air We Breathe”
Gwyneth Walker, composer
Langston Hughes, poet

Equality is in the air we breathe.
My brother and sister walk this earth with me, in dignity.
Our land must be the land where every man and women is free.
Let America be the dream it used to be.
In the air we breathe…
On the earth we walk…
Through the lives we lead…
EQUALITY.

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer of the plain.
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
Equality is in the air we breathe.

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed.
Let it be that great strong land of love.
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath
But opportunity is real and life is free
Equality is in the air we breathe.

Say who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean
Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today- O, Pioneers!
I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream.
In the Old World while still a serf of kings.
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings.
I came to build a “homeland of the free”.

O let American be America again
The land that never has been yet
And yet must be- the land where every man is free.
O, yes,
I say it plain,
I swear this oath America will be!

We, the people, must redeem
The land, the minds, the plants, the rivers,
The mountains and the endless plain
All, all the stretch of these great green states
And make America again!

~ Excerpts from Let America Be America Again

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