The issue of racial discrimination has become societal norm in America. Poems like Langston Hughes' "Let America Be America Again" and Sherman Alexie's, "Capital Punishment" show the injustice that still exists. Both poems speak to the prejudice that is accepted and current in America's past and present. Alexie and Hughes, both from minority groups, have seen the ugly face of racism. Both poems have many similarities, including the obvious tone of anger. The pieces also have their differences, while Hughes poem speaks from the viewpoint of one of the oppressed; Alexie's speaker is just a witness. Both writers draw attention to the injustices that minority groups face daily in this land of the free.

Sherman Alexie, A Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, grew up on a reservation in Washington yet attended a high school where he was, as he so eloquently said, "the only Indian...except for the school...