HCE 9 – English Write

A lack of respect, equality, and inclusion still exist and are a prevalent problem in our world today. A good visualization of this is the photo “Birds on a wire” by Banksy where inequality, lack of respect, and lack of inclusivity in our world are demonstrated by birds on a wire. The inequality and lack of inclusivity towards the non-native and colored bird in this photo is representative of the ways lots of people in our society are treated today just for being different or new. This image uses the colored bird to represent an immigrant and the crows to represent the racist, anti-immigration, and privileged people of our society today. It shows the poor treatments towards the colored bird, which is obviously not from where the crows come from, with the crows holding up signs saying: “migrants not welcome”, “go back to Africa” and “keep off our worms”. This represents a lack of inclusivity towards the colored bird, not wanting it to sit on their wire or share their worms. It also shows a lack of respect, as they are being more than not being inclusive towards the bird, they are looking down upon the colored bird in a condescending manner. Lastly, the crows are demonstrating inequality as they are treating themselves as superior to the colored bird, with the sign “migrants not welcome” showing that the crows think of the colored bird as nothing more than the title “migrant” and not as a living breathing bird just like them. From my interpretation, Banksy created this piece to try and demonstrate this problem in our world in a way that people can understand. The small bird had done nothing wrong, and the crows had plenty of space on the wire and probably plenty of worms to eat, but instead of helping one another the crows were being racist and wanted the colored bird to leave for no reason.