Southern Heroes Poem by Danielle Schneider

One day the South will recognize its real heroes,
Martin Luther King Jr wrote a letter to white men from jail,
Who would rather that the courts settle racial segregation,
Where white judges make sure that they don't prevail.

After years of always hearing the word 'wait',
Which almost always meant never instead,
The bomb that exploded a church filled with children,
All for not being what the white men considered 'purebred'.

One day, the South will have to see the real heroes,
Like the man fresh from war when he took a bus to go home
Corporal Roman Duckworth Jr went to see his sick wife,
Killed because they thought he was a freedom rider who didn’t drone.

A full measure of truth and justice,
Is what they wanted to figure out
So many heroes like Dahmer killed,
Who gave a job to any colour without any doubt.

And what about Mrs Viola Liuzzo?
The amazing woman who was transporting
Those who needed a ride between marches,
Shot for being someone supporting.

Both sides had many supporters
But if the Klan was so good and so great,
And all the blacks wanted was to vote,
Why did they feel the need to retaliate?

They killed innocent kids,
Destroyed families aplenty,
They chose to make examples
Of many more then twenty.

But what good is a group,
Who only live to make the world 'pure',
What's the point of having someone
Who explains how to kill in a brochure.

Would you listen to the men
Who shot Reverend George Lee,
The man who convinced people to vote,
The man whose face became debris.

So why, why did they listen?
To the crazy power hungry Klan,
Turning their backs on the cries
Voiced by blacks when hurt by the white man.

Will one day the South learn of the true heroes?
One day, will they respect and honour the truth?
Will there be justice and peace for the restless souls
Plenty of whom were killed in the bloom of youth.

The true heroes are not the ones still standing,
But the ones who died for their beliefs,
The ones who stood tall like the hat of the KKK,
And didn’t back down from the life-taking sneak thieves.

The leader of the bunch was quite a man of speech,
Dr Martin Luther King Jr had a dream,
With his powerful voice he shared that dream
Let freedom ring, let them scream!

Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!


A/N: This was for my Writer's Craft final project. I did it on the Civil Rights Movement, against the KKK. Now, it was supposed to be a ballad, but I wanted more of a truthful thing, so I changed it from your typical ballad, and now it's sort of a free verse ballad.
Please review or message me, I'd love to know what you think about this.
Thanks,
Dani