The Ballad of Rudolph Reed

The struggle for justice must be constantly waged because injustice is embedded in the institutions that sustain society and in individual hearts. Reed successfully navigates institutional racism as represented by the real estate agent, but he resorts to violence when he encounters interpersonal racism.

Reed’s encounter with the real estate agent and his white neighbors represents the forces arrayed against Black people’s pursuit of social justice, especially during the 1950s as activists sought to address racism in its multiple forms. Reed confronts the injustice of housing discrimination. Even in neighborhoods where restrictive covenants—neighborhood regulations that kept Black families out—did not exist, real estate agents served as gatekeepers who assured Black families were never shown homes outside of Black neighborhoods. This agent sells the home to Reed, but the callous, disrespectful language he uses with Reed—“you black old, tough old hell of a man” (Line 27)—and his “grin” (Line 26) show he feels Reed’s dreams to be ridiculous ones. Reed’s response is one typical of people who embrace nonviolent approaches to racism. He bears the disrespect with dignity and calm, choosing neither to “grin” (Line 29) nor to “curse” (Line 30) in response to mistreatment because he knows a house is at stake.

Reed is less equipped to respond to the interpersonal racism he encounters in the neighborhood because it is first subtle and then virulent. Surveilling Black people is one of the forms of racism Black people encounter when they enter segregated spaces. Reed initially ignores this intrusive response because he has what he wants. When these same neighbors throw another rock through the window, he at first exercises restraint because “[p]atience ached to endure” such violence for the sake of keeping the house (Line 46). Reed’s commitment to nonviolence dissolves when he sees that racists will hurt his child. Reed carries both a knife and a gun when he leaves the house to confront those threatening his family. His decision to resort to violence is quixotic and futile.

The end of this poem is bleak. It shows the cost of fighting for justice may be bearing racial slights patiently or dealing out explicit violence in kind. The men who threw the rocks into Reed’s house are likely dead, but so is Reed, and his children and wife must now bear the trauma of another Black man’s death. The final scene in which the mother tends to Mabel’s wounds shows that this Black family is nevertheless determined to bear those costs.