Wear it
Like a banner
For the proud—
Not like a shroud.

These lines urge a stance of defiant self-possession: whatever “it” signifies—identity, difference, hardship, or a stigmatized condition—should be carried openly as a sign of pride rather than hidden as a mark of shame. The contrast between “banner” and “shroud” sharpens the choice between public affirmation and a kind of living burial. In Hughes’s poetic idiom, the imperative aligns with a broader ethic of dignity under pressure: to transform what society might treat as a wound into a visible emblem of resilience and collective pride.