Here to Yonder
Langston Hughes

Simple And The Atom Bomb

"I am tired of talking about race relations," said my Simple Minded Friend.

"Me, too," I said. "Let's talk about human relations."

"The only trouble with that," said Simple, "is that we will not have no human relations left when we get through dropping that new atomical bomb on each other. The way it kills people for miles around, all my relations and -- me, too -- is liable to be wiped out in no time."

"Nobody is dropping that bomb on you," I said. "We are dropping it way over in Asia."

"And what is to keep Asia from dropping it back on us?" asked Simple.

"The Japanese probably do not have any atomic bombs to drop," I said.

"And how come we did not try them out on Germany?" demande [demanded] Simple.

"I do not know," I said. Perhaps they were not perfected before V-E Day."

"Uh-umm! No, buddy-o," said Simple, "you know better than that. They just did not want to use them on white folks. Germans is white. So they wait until the war is all over in Europe to try them out on colored folks. Japs is colored."