"If We Must Die" BY: Claude Mckay

"If We Must Die"
BY: Claude McKay

If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! We must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

"If we must die" by Claude Mckay is a very inspiring but rebellious poem. I feel this poem is about African Americans during the Harlem Renaissance. It is telling African Americans to fight for rights, equality, and fight against injustice, and discrimination. In addition if they must die, they will die with pride and die fighting back. I feel that this poem is not only reaching out to African Americans in the past but the people in the present as well. I think Mckay is telling everyone to fight any obstacle or dilemma that comes our way. Also, I believe Mckay is telling us to never backdown, and if we must die, we must die with honor.

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