Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall
The poem Ballad of Birmingham is about a little girl wanting to make change in her country and fight for equal rights. But her mother put a stop to that as the protests usually arn’t safe, so she suggests to go to church, a safe place. Or so she thought. This is based on a true story from the bombing of a Church in Birmingham in Alabama, 1963.
Dudley Randall used a technique called “clickbait” making the person who sees the poem impulsed to read it. Dudley did this because the message is so important and some people may just skip over it, causing them to possibly be ignorant. But Dudley is trying to spread awareness of innocent black people being killed, using a little girl for the reader to sympathise over.
A great quote from the poem is “No, baby, no, you may not go, For I fear those guns will fire. But you may go to the Church instead and sing in the children’s choir”. This quote symbolizes that the mother (whom is speaking) presumes that the protest is violent but Church is not, as that is what the stereotypes suggest. But on this day, the roles reversed.
The Ballad of Birmingham is a strong yet simple poem that symbolizes the many African Americans that have lost their lives to murder just because of the colour of their skin. It is truly disgusting and needs to change now.
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