As with many of Langston Hughes's works, a key theme at play in this poem is that of racial discrimination, and particularly the role it plays in the enforcement of socioeconomic positions. The speaker in the poem is a black man whose landlord has not adhered to his responsibilities toward his tenant. The landlord insists that "ten bucks" is due to him, but has not fixed any of the issues blighting the speaker's home. The speaker uses colloquial language suggestive of black American patterns of speech—"ten bucks you say is due"—which emphasize the fact that this person presents as a black man in every part of his life; he is viewed as such by the landlord and by everyone he meets, including those reading his written words. There is no doubt in the poem that the speaker's race has contributed to the way his landlord treats him.

It is also very clear in this poem that the landlord is far from alone in treating his tenant this way. On the contrary, society as a whole judges the black man guilty, regardless of the truth of the matter. At the end of the poem, the speaker imagines the headlines if he were to physically assault his landlord—the judge would give him, a "negro," ninety days in jail. As such, the speaker feels unable to press his suit with the landlord, even though the landlord has failed in his duties.

The poem is, essentially, a cry of frustration against a racist social structure which forces black people to put up with things they should not have to deal with.