Langston Hughes in 1936 Photo by Carl Van Vechten

My Dad was born and raised in Queens. He was a child of the depression, both the mental and financial kind. His father, like many Jews of that era, was a member of the Communist Party because, back then, it was a lone voice of tolerance and economic justice that welcomed everyone, including Jews and Blacks.

I never knew my Grandfather. He died when I was just a year old. But my Father passed along a legacy of that time to me. It was from him that I learned about the Lincoln Brigade, the writings of John Reed, and the poems of Langston Hughes.

My childhood was not a happy one. There was a  a poem that was a great comfort to me. I had a poster of it on my wall. It was a poem by Langston Hughes, the poem that Tim Kaine referred to before Hillary Clinton’s concession speech. Here’s the full text. May it bring comfort to you in these difficult times when intolerance is in ascendance.