The article “Life in Mississippi: East St Louis, Illinois” is one that is not taken lightly. The article shows one the injustice that African Americans face in the city of St. Louis. The article all together is shocking and heartbreaking. To know that in a country that is suppose to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, there still is so much injustice is not only eye opening but also upsetting. One of the 2 most heartbreaking parts for me was when Kozol describes the old men leaning on his cane listening to Jesse Jackson and crying. This is something so powerful to me because this is someone who has experience all of the hardships that east St. Louis has to offer and he has to live knowing that not much has change and maybe Jesse Jackson was the only one promising the change they deserve. The last scene was when one of the students goes up to Kozol after class and tell him that what Dr. King did was nothing because they are still living in such horrible situations. For a teenage kid to think and feel that way, they must have had to suffer through so much, which is exactly what the article is able to show us, the injustice that these kids face on a daily basis. Having read this is shocking to one because we live in a different area where we aren’t prone to see such things and because we have grown up and taught to believe that racism and poverty is almost non existing because this is American a country that doesn’t fail the people.
Having lived in Austin for almost
Black people still call America their home, even though they are consistently discriminated against. Consistently hated on because of how they look like. Black people have been viewed as trouble, suspicious, no good, and will never be anything respectable (Goldberg 2). When young black children cannot be protected from this everyday, so they adapted to this way of life and was to never believe otherwise. Racism and discrimination limit not only black people, but everyone of color. People of color believe they will never be like a white man because of all the advantages a white man has. However, people like Benjamin Banneker, Kenneth Clark, and Toni Morrison are showing their skin color does not relate to their success or intelligence (Goldberg 3). These people are showing how even with all the injustice in America, they were still able to be successful. It is not about what the color of one’s skin is, it is about the mindset and perspective of each
The health status according to the 2017 County Health Rankings, St. Louis has a homicide death rate of 33 people per 100,000 (“Crime,” 2017). The health care clinician to patient ratios for primary care physicians are 1 to 83 people, dentists are 1 to 48 people and mental health is 1 to 272 people (“Crime,” 2017). The population that are uninsured is eleven percent and are between the ages of 18 to 65 (“Crime,” 2017). The Missouri Health Improvement Act of 2007 (Senate bill 577) seeks to make MO HealthNet a prudent purchaser of high quality care and the Missouri Health Transformation Act of 2008 (Senate bill 1230) which requires hospitals to report adverse events and the state to publicly report results annually (Health Care, 2013).
He wants his readers to imagine the pain and humiliation of the ill treatment that African Americans endure on a daily basis. King writes of vicious mobs lynching people’s mothers and fathers, policemen killing people’s brothers and sisters, a man and his wife not receiving the proper respect they deserve because of their skin color, and the notion that African Americans feel insignificant within their communities; this is why these peaceful demonstrators of whom the clergymen attack “find it difficult to wait” (King, 20). However, King believes that soon, injustice will be exposed, like “a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up” (King, 30). This vivid description helps arouse an emotional response, driving shame into the hearts of his white readers.
Although always positive in tone, it deals with the realities of a campaign that is now viewed as pivotal to the success of the American Civil Rights Movement but that was anything but assured in its own time. That King acknowledges this reality while placing it in a constructive context all the while advancing his positive, forward-looking message is a testament to his vision and incredibly forgiving perseverance. It's these gritty yet honestly conveyed insights - in addition to the outstanding Letter from Birmingham Jail that is the heart and soul of the book - that make this such a worthwhile and satisfying read. It's hard to read about the discrimination and racism, but the story of the eventual triumph ultimately overshadows this, with the result that the overall story is an uplifting and inspiring one. One sees here in all of his moral and pragmatic glory a leader who is committed to effecting positive change and yet honest enough to share his own challenges and
In March book 2, author and activist, John Lewis, delivered a speech on August 28, 1963. Before John Lewis delivered his speech, there was a lot of ciaos occurring backstage about revising Lewis’ speech. Mr. Randolph wasn’t pleased with the way John Lewis worded parts of his speech and demanded for him to change it. After Lewis negotiated with Mr. Randolph, Lewis was still content with the arrangement of his speech. Lewis confronts his sentiments to the people regarding racial inequality. He emphasizes on the unfair acts that are implemented among the African American working class. John Lewis states, “While we stand here, there are sharecroppers in the Delta of Mississippi who are out in the fields working for less than three dollars a day, twelve hours a day” (Lewis Aydin 166). In this statement, Lewis explains his reasoning for assembling his speech. His objective was to arouse the public on the realism of the nation’s unjust behavior towards African Americans. Lewis explains the march on Washington is occurring because blacks don’t receive the same wages as whites. Lewis declares, “We do not want our freedom gradually, but we want to be free now” (Lewis Aydin 169). He proclaims that African Americans have been fighting for their freedom long enough and they are not willing to be patient. With his skillful use of appeals, Lewis applies powerful logos to illustrate racism, emotional pathos to connect with the audience, and ethos to appeal to the segregation and discrimination towards African Americans.
Although most of Dr. King’s speeches and works appeal to more of a emotional and inspirational in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” there is more of a pathos appeal. He paints a picture of the discrimination that is happening during the 1960’s and how the African American were segregated from everything in the United States right to which water fountain they could drink from. Martin Luther King describes the moment where he had to explain to his six year daughter why her skin color was not accept in society. He starts
King heavily implied pathos for the readers and listeners to get a strong sense of emotion for what blacks were going through, the major moments of pathos in "Letter from Birmingham Jail" come in the parts about the suffering of the African American community. In order for Dr. King's argument to make sense, you have to understand why the situation is unjust. So, Dr. King provides a vivid picture of what Black Americans have to go through in the segregated South, their day to day lives, what the black community is permitted and not permitted to do. Through this very visual narration he provides multiple examples where his words tug on your heart, and makes the reader put themselves in Dr. Kings shoes, or the other victims of segregation’s shoes. King tries to place this audience into the shoes of the black people by giving vivid descriptions of the trials they have been going through and invoke empathy in their hearts. He says: "When she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness towards white people.” He implies the idea of white mother and fathers having to explain the segregation concept to their young kids, it is something good parents would loathe to do. Another example includes, “lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright
However, King appeals to my emotion the most with the story telling the six-year-old daughter she cannot go to the amusement park because it refuses kids of color. If I did not recall it wrong, I have read this part for my literature class in my first language when I was in high school. At that time, as a high school student, I was feeling sad for the girl. She cannot do what she wants just because of the color of her skin. Today, when I read it again in the original language written, with many more years of life experience, besides sorrow, I feel an urge to help her and other innocent kids just like her. As far as I am concerned, eliminating ethical discrimination is what we could do for her and everyone else in this
King exposes the institutionalized racism in Birmingham by informing his audience on the immorality of the church. King exposes the cowardice that white churches promotes that
King continues on by affecting the reader, on an emotional level, by going through and explaining some of the unending amount of torturous events that the black community had to endure daily. In an essay by an anonymous writer it says, “He uses a dialog that reaches into the pit of your soul and places you on an emotional rollercoaster.” When he says, “when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse,
Throughout the letter, King illustrates the struggles systematic racism have on the psyches on black people within the nation and how it propagates socioeconomic imbalances, “twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society,” (King #15) by the usage of vivid imagery King invites audiences, primarily white America to glimpse at the reality of black struggle insteading of purposefully veiling themselves in ignorance. Capturing emotional responses through short narratives involving his own children and life experiences to accomplish the set goal of creating a conversation of raw honesty for true change to occur on a judicial level, “see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky.” (King #15) Through wholeheartedly eliudiating segregation impact on the youth of the time King strikes a fundamental cord in audiences -- the impact institutionalized racism has on future generations and in turn the future of
He explains how it’s easy for people who have never seen or felt segregation to say wait but they have never got to see their vicious mob kill their mom or your brothers. They’ve never had police hit them or people drown your sister at a whim. When you must see your twenty million brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty amid an affluent society who constantly degrades them just based on the color of their skin. These explicit and emotional experiences offer an insight to people who don’t understand the pain of segregation to see what black people must deal with in their life on the
Chicago in the 1920s was a turning point for the development of ethnic neighborhoods. After the opening of the first rail connection from New York to Chicago in the 1840s, immigration sky rocketed from that point on. Majority of the immigrants to Chicago were Europeans. The Irish, Italians, eastern European Jews, Germans, and Mexicans were among the most common ethnicities to reside in Chicago. These groups made up the greater part of Chicago. The sudden increase in immigration to Chicago in the 1920s soon led to an even further distinguished separation of ethnicities in neighborhoods. The overall development of these neighborhoods deeply impacted how Chicago is sectioned off nowadays. Without these ethnicities immigrating to Chicago
I personally like the article and that it showed me another point of slavery that made it wrong. Children who were being used as house pets or as house props were just wrong so they only grew up knowing how to be basically an obedient dog. Despite the fact that they were usually being taken cared of inside and fed, they were still being treated no better than a dog in today’s times. The recommended audience for this all ages. The reason being is that everyone should know how harsh times were like for slaves and how we as a whole nation should never go back to doing these things to mistreat any human being like that. This comes to show us that how we as humans treated each other were no better than farmers treating animals. Never should this ever happen again not just to African Americans but to anyone including children and adults, every human should be free and have the freedom to have their own mind and be in charge of
There were emotions I felt while I read this book times when I would stop reading and analyze the things that happen to Walter McMillian. There were even times when I felt that the situation happening in the book were done to me. I wanted to sometimes tell that they were being wrongly done I wanted to help out. I felt very heartbroken through some situations kids my age were going through. Sometimes I put myself in their shoes to see what I would have done. When I finished the book I had a different view of our society. I knew that black people were treated bad but after I finished the story I haven't truly understood the pain they went through until now. This book taught me even though there are situations that might be difficult I should