Kev-uhn

     According to CNN, Street Baptist Church’s sermon’s focus was “a love that forgives all” ironically on the very day the bombing took place. In the poem “Ballad of Birmingham”, the author, Dudley Randall uses both historical facts and literary dramatization to melodramatically express the tragedy of the Birmingham Bombing as well as his opinions regarding the protests. Through “Ballad of Birmingham”, Randall covers the church bombing that had taken place on September 15th, 1963. However, Randall leaves out a few key details that should have been noted within the poem. On line 22 Randall describes the church as “the sacred place” evoking a persona of safety and inviolability. His use of the word sacred gives the situation more severity, as if the church bombing was spontaneous and sporadic. In actuality, the Street Baptist church was highly targeted by the racist organization, the Klu Klux Klan because it was the headquarters for civil rights activists. Many bomb threats were received to stop the activists’ meetings, but the KKK did not go through with them until the day of the bombing. By depicting the church as a shield, it also allows irony to be seen when the presumed safe church was the place the little girl died. Overall Randall uses the church to illustrate dramatic irony and to exaggerate tragedy of the bombing.
     
     Furthermore, Randall wrote this poem to shed light upon the dangers of protesting. According to CNBC, the children were the first people to march for equality in the Birmingham’s Children march, but according to “Ballad of Birmingham” this act seemed inappropriate to Dudley Randall. In lines 5 - 8, Randall explains how the police are using dangerous weapons such as dogs and guns, making it unsafe for children to be protesting. It was known by the activists that fighting would mean the opposers would fight back, and throughout the peaceful protests many people of color have been brutally treated by the police. Randall agreed to the marches, but he believed that the youth should be left out. Randall also depicts the willing child as innocent by using words such as “rose petal sweet”, giving her the description of frailty and innocence. The author purposefully illustrates her in this sense to demonstrate why he believes the purity of children should not be tarnished by the cruelty and violence that comes from the protest. Randall was an advocate for equality, but did not believe in allowing the children to risk themselves for a better tomorrow.