J. Cole's Speech Analysis

Matthew McConaughey was a very enthusiastic speaker who showed that he was the right choice when winning this award. He began by thanking his fellow workers who worked hard on the movie and even the other nominees to show respect and not doubt his fellow actors. McConaughey also states his three main points of the speech to show what he would be talking about. His humor made his words flow whenever he started talking about his Father and it caused it to shift into thanking his loved ones in the audience. His stance throughout the speech looked like he was shifting only because he would look around at the audience and create eye contact. McConaughey pointed out the people he was talking about and directly spoke to them the things he wanted to

Alexander H. Stephen, in the ‘Cornerstone Speech’, firmly stated that, the Confederacy was basically on racial inequality and slavery. He clearly outlined the existing differences between the new nation and the American United States. Stephen made it clear that, the Confederacy of the cornerstone was not primarily of chattel slavery, but the black people subordination benefited the white people. Thus, he tied slavery to race. Confederacy was the origin of the era of apartheid in South Africa. Stephen made declarations that the new government was founded on the great truth , that the negro was not equal on the side of the white people and that, slavery which was to be a subordination to the white race which was superior, was a normal and a natural condition. Stephen criticized the claims of the northern that, African enslavement was a law violation nature and that it was a wrong principle, morally, politically and socially. He clearly put across that his new government had an idea which was exactly different from the northern claims. He argued that, it was a kind of insanity to believe that the Negro will be equal between the white and black people and also that, enslaving the blacks was wrong. He made predictions that, the Confederate constitution has settled all the questions relating to the African slavery which existed among the white people. Stephen’s arguments led to the outbreak of the civil war in 1865 (The Teaching AmericanHistory.org, 2017).

A highly influencing person that visited to our school was Bobby Jones. He came to share his story with us on October 23. Bobby Jones grew up in Yankton, South Dakota, with his parents, his brother, and his sister. Bobby came to persuade our students about staying on track and not to go down the wrong paths in life. A powerful message was delivered that day. He had a very specific goal, which was to tell us his story and give us more of an insight to stay focused on life. Bobby Jones had great information for everyone and I will always remember this presentation. He had a unique way of getting the audience’s attention. Frequently, he would do clapping exercises with the audience, which was very fitting due to the audience members who attended. There were middle school students at this speech as well as high school students. In that aspect, I feel as if he did a great job adapting to his audience.

Cornel West spoke at Texas A&M University-Commerce as a guest speaker on September 28th in order to discuss why race matters in 2016. He talked about different subjects including race in politics, social justice, social economics, police accountability, and prominent social justice warriors. Filling the shoes of Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. West kindly educated the students and faculty by discussing the current racial justice movement, what the movement stands for, and what they intend to do. The insight that Dr. West offered helped me better understand the difficulties of racial tension, and what we can do to stop both racial and social injustice. What I found particularly interesting about his speech was the way that he captivated the audience.

On June 17, 2015 a tragedy occurred at the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the oldest churches in South Carolina. Shooter, 21 year old Dylan Roof had attended a prayer meeting for one hour before opening fire. Nine people died that day. Roof was an uneducated white supremacist who had dropped out of high school in 2010 and had been previously arrested for drug

“So God made a farmer” (Harvey). This famous phrase was originally spoken by a famous radio personality Paul Harvey, and last year was heard by many on the night of the 2013 Super Bowl in a Rams truck commercial. It is impressive that a speech that was originally written and spoken in 1978, reached out to an audience in today’s age and is still relevant to people with many different backgrounds. In this essay, I am going to analyze Paul Harvey’s speech and delivery by discussing what rhetorical strategies he used and why these tactics worked, and finally how the speech could have been improved.

In 2015 there was a racially motivated shooting at a historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina (Horowitz, Corasaniti, and Southall). There was a total of nine victims total that died (Horowitz, Corasaniti, and Southall). Local Church leaders felt that there was no other explanation than racial discrimination (Horowitz, Corasaniti, and Southall). Later investigators ruled the shooting a hate crime fueling the fire on the confederate monument removal.

Image being struck down by cancer and having to living with a disease eating at your body, well Jim Valvano lived under those circumstances and was able to give one of the influential speeches of all time that people still turn to for motivation. The ESPY Awards is an annual award ceremony in which awards are presented to individuals to recognize their achievements in both sports-related performance and high character outside of sports(Rothman). At the 1993 Espys, Jim Valvano or “Jimmy V” delivered an acceptance speech for the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, a speech that moved the audience to their feet. Just nine months prior to speaking, Jimmy was diagnosed with a severe form of cancer called Metastatic Adenocarcinoma (V Foundation). It was evident, by the way he spoke, his time on earth was quickly coming to an end, in the way he spoke and the stories he told about those he has met through his life. During the speech he referred to not knowing how much time he still had on earth before cancer took him for good (V Foundation).Jimmy V argues the idea that one bad thing life should be able to hold you back from being a strong and outgoing individual. Jimmy Valvano was always able to uplift a crowd by bringing energy to his surroundings by his tone, use of humor, and by using the rhetorical appeal pathos.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist, took the chance to deliver his famous speech “I Have A Dream” to about 250,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial. The speech invigorated the movement, and many of the demand were reached. All the schools, which were first “separate, but equal” desegregated, allowing both blacks and whites to attend and graduate from the corresponding school. It also led almost all the United States’ citizens to have generally posses the same things, such as access to all accommodations, training and placements for unemployed Americans, a national minimum wage to give all Americans a decent living space, and an education. One of the demands from the march was to have a monumental federal program to help the unemployed Americans train and be placed into a job. Another impact the speech left on society is encouraging James Harris, a quarterback, to join the NFL. The “I Have A Dream” also “saved” the civil rights movement. If it weren’t for the speech, most individuals would be fighting, like the strategy Malcolm X had proposed. The speech was able to stop any of the fighting that might have arose from the conflict of racial

Many people recognize Jim Carrey as the pet detective or the not-so-bright Lloyd Christmas, but during his commencement speech to the graduating class of 2014 at the Maharishi University of Management, he opens up to reveal a much deeper side of himself. While the speech he delivers is permeated with his traditional humor, Carrey also inspires his audience to think about how they want to conduct their lives. Carrey presents an effective argument for persuading college graduates who are entering the work field to not let fear control how they live. By successfully employing anecdote, analogy, and audience engagement, Carrey entices his audience to be willing to take risks and choose love over fear when approaching a career and other life

J. Cole meditates on oppression, meeting with President Barack Obama and the dangers of revolution in a dense new track, "High for Hours," released on Martin Luther King Day.

On the 28th of August 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the most inspiring, and influential speeches America has ever encountered titled “I Have a Dream”. The inspirational high point of a civil rights movement that asked for wrongs to be righted and for every American to get the same chance at success. He delivered his speech to blacks and whites to help advocate the idea of equality throughout all Americans. Martin Luther King first talks about America’s past, he then gradually moves on to the present and the current racial dilemmas African Americans are facing. Martin Luther then advocates Americans to take actions promptly to stop the racism that has been running through America’s veins for centuries. King relies heavily on pathos, ethos, and logos to convey his message of equality. As well as the use of several fallacies such as, the overly sentimental appeal, the bandwagon appeal, and circular reasoning to interact with his audience.

As I wandered down to the lower level of the Bryan center, I began to hear chatter and smell the sweet scent of waffles drifting towards me. On the night of September 19th, I rushed into the crowded room, filled my plate with pizza and waffles, then quickly sat down to listen to the presentation. The first slide flashed across the projector screen, “Waffles and White Privilege: A Conversation”. Two young men introduced themselves as president and vice president and began to explain the purpose of that night’s event. “Our goal is not to make white people feel guilty, but we must realize the abundant amount of privilege we hold” Senior, and President Conor Smith remarked.

Many of my life experiences have given me a glimpse of what it means to be in the margins of society. My family’s history of racism and poverty, my father’s physical disability, my experiences as a woman, and growing up in the diverse Bay Area with friends, mentors, coaches, and teachers from different backgrounds has opened my eyes to the disparities in society. When I was sixteen I had a particularly salient experience that awoke my heart and mind to the ideas of social justice. I was in Memphis, Tennessee for a basketball tournament and on our day off we went to the Civil Rights Museum, which was built around the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. We saw the counters from sit-ins, buses from the Freedom Ride, and learned about the systematic oppression of Jim Crow. I was confused by the hate and anger I saw but found myself clenching my fists with rage at the injustice of it all. Yet, what was even more powerful was sitting in the parking lot with my team and listening to our assistant coach, who was an African-American man, share his experiences of racism, how it shaped his identity, and his fears for his two sons. Our head coach then shared about her experiences as lesbian and the ways in which she was continually denied rights because of her sexual orientation.

In the January/February 2017 edition of The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates takes a look at the last eight years of American history, a time when the Commander in Chief of the United States of America was an African American. The article, entitled “My President Was Black” focused on the implications of having an African American in office. Within the first subheading, which focused on the different styles of music that were being performed at the White House, my mind was off on a number of tangents. This article really showcased how much music can matter to an African American.