God Give to Men by Arna Bontemps

God give the yellow man
an easy breeze at blossom time.
Grant his eager, slanting eyes to cover
every land and dream
of afterwhile.

Give blue-eyed men their swivel chairs
to whirl in tall buildings.
Allow them many ships at sea,
and on land, soldiers
and policemen.

For black man, God,
no need to bother more
but only fill afresh his meed
of laughter,
his cup of tears.

God suffer little men
the taste of soul's desire.

                   God Give to Men, another poem by Arna Bontemps is a very controversial look at religion, and oppression. The first two stanzas talk about god’s gifts to two ethnic groups, "the yellow men" and the "blue-eyed men" (presumably Asians and Caucasians). The poet feels that god has been generous to these people, giving them "and easy breeze at blossom time... many ships at sea, and on land, soldiers." Bontemps finishes his second stanza by writing that god has given whites policemen, pointing out the un-proportional segregation within the U.S. police departments. This discrimination in public defense lead (and one could argue continues to lead) to a lot of tension between blacks and these authorities, especially during the later civil rights movement.

       The third stanza talks about god’s neglecting of blacks “For black man no need to bother more.” Instead of gifts, god “fills afresh his meed of laughter”; god mocks blacks rather than rewarding them. Bontemps finishes the stanza by writing that the drink god fills is a “cup of tears”, claiming god’s amusement comes from the sorrow of the suppressed Negroes.

       The final two lines of the poem continue to talk about god’s cruelty. By filling the youth with “soul’s desire”, god only sets them up for suffering when they find that their own society is denying them the right to peruse their ambition, biased on nothing more than the color of their skin.

       This poem is also be making a commentary on the U.S.’ failure to deliver civil rights. The Declaration of Independence, arguably the most important document in our nation's history, states that everyone is endowed certain unalienable god given rights; by saying god gives nothing to black men, Bontemp points out the government’s refusal to uphold the ideals the nation was founded on, and to deliver equal rights to all.

         This poem falls in to the HR theme of anger with racism, as it identifies the ways in which Negroes are unfairly treated, by not only the authorities, but their god as well.