Mother+dear

This poem is about the danger to black people living in Birmingham during the time of the famous church bombing. This line, //Mother dear, may I go downtown, instead of out to play, and march the streets of Birmingham, in a freedom march today?// starts the entire poem off. Her mother who knows that the city is getting more and more dangerous replies //No, baby, no, you may not go, for the dogs are fierce and wild, and clubs and hoses, guns and jails aren't good for a little child//. Dudley Randell's poem is based off of that one line because, it is the child's refused question hinders his freedom thus leading to the higher purpose of the poem. Dudley Randell shows that in the poem on the literal sense the danger of the city of Birmingham in that time period. This poem was written during the civil rights movement, which makes it even more dangerous to the family, which was black. Even so, I believe that he was showing that the danger was not only to those on the streets. This poem shows that on a literal sense that when she tries to protect her child from the danger he died anyway.