Citing textual evidence from "On the Pulse of Morning" and "One Today:" • describe some of the challenges facing the American people during the late 20th and early 21st centuries or • explain the effects of cultural diversity among the American people during the late 20th and early 21st centuries

The two poems explain the difficulties that Americans encountered in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries, ”On The Pulse of Morning” and “One Today” respectively:

Poem 1: On The Pulse of Morning

Poem 2: One Today

For more information regarding the American's difficulties, refer to the link:

link

From the poem "On The Pulse of Morning", Maya Angelou said,

"Women, children, men, Take it into the palms of your hands, Mold it into the shape of your most Private need. Sculpt it into The image of your most public self. Lift up your hearts Each new hour holds new chances For a new beginning. Do not be wedded forever To fear, yoked eternally To brutishness."

The above statement revealed that Americans dwelt in the past which was a problem they had. So they needed to pass that stage  because many people worked hard to make the country the way it is today. A look at the past on how people look, sound, and act should get us back to work together.

Also, Maya's poem revealed that there is consant war that occurs among the people. Human beings war against themselves because of greed and self-interest  despite being of the same kind.

"Each of you a bordered country, Delicate and strangely made proud, Yet thrusting perpetually under siege. Your armed struggles for profit"

Richard Blanco, in his poem "One Today"  said,

"Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling, or whispers across café tables. Hear: the doors we open for each other all day, saying: hello, shalom, buon giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos días in the language my mother taught me–in every language spoken into one wind carrying our lives without prejudice, as these words break from my lips."

He simply calls Americans to live their lives without prejudice and love and they should learn to care about their fellow Americans. As we move on, people tend to get more and more judgemental and the world keeps getting more violent.

Furthermore, Maya Angelou in her poem calls everyone to draw encouragement from the poem to stop war and begin to spread the peace on the land because we are all the same.

"Yet, today I call you to my riverside, If you will study war no more. Come, clad in peace and I will sing the songs The Creator gave to me when I And the tree and stone were one."

In the two poems, the poets both share a common thing. Both is talks about how we judge  people by just the way they look or how they talk.  Many people are afraid to stand up for what they believe. They are afraid of being ridiculed over it. Our  fathers that founded this country did not find it to be a war zone for people but they did found it because they believed people had "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

the telephone is the answer