A Roman Holiday

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A Roman Holiday (1919)
by Claude McKay

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First published in the July 1919 issue of The Liberator and subsequently republished Workers' Dreadnought (September 6, 1920);

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A Roman Holiday

'Tis but a modern Roman holiday;
Each state invokes its soul of basest passion,
Each vies with each to find the ugliest way
To torture Negroes in the fiercest fashion.
Black Southern men, like hogs await your doom!
White wretches hunt and haul you from your huts,
They squeeze the babies out your women's womb,
They cut your members off, rip out your guts!
It is a Roman holiday, and worse,
It is the mad beast risen from his lair,
The dead accusing years' eternal curse.
Reeking of vengeance, in fulfilment here.
Bravo, Democracy! Hail greatest Power
That saved sick Europe in her darkest hour!

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.

The longest-living author of this work died in 1948, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 75 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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