The Ballad of Birmingham

Out of the many poems we’ve been reading in class, The Ballad of Birmingham really stood out to me. With all the rallies and marches going on recently, whether it be for gay rights or in protest of laws and leaders, it is hard to see all the harm being caused by these “peaceful” protests. In Russia, with the recent advent of the laws restricting LGBT propaganda, many civilians took to the streets in protest, and many faced the harsh brutality of the OMOH. And even though I don’t have ridiculous (even though basic human rights shouldn’t be seen as ridiculous) expectations for this world, I still have hope that maybe someday, eventually, people won’t be persecuted and degraded because of who they are and who they happen to love. The Ballad of Birmingham evoked a lot of emotion in me for this reason. Here we have a mother finding security in the fact that her daughter was safe, when in fact she was being murdered for her skin color, in a house of God, which should be a safe haven for those who choose to enter it. And even though this was many years ago, not much has changed, it has just shifted towards other minorities and groups. While there still is plenty of racial prejudice, much of the issues today reside in prejudice against gender and sexuality. In many states, people are not allowed to use the corresponding facilities of which gender they identify as. Transgender Americans have a 1 in 12 chance of being murdered, as opposed to the 1 in 18,000 for the rest of Americans. It is not a crime or atrocity to be yourself and unfortunately most of the world has failed to realize this.