Rhetorical Devices In Assata Shakur's To My People

In 1974, the civil rights movement had been over for about 6 years, a gallon of gas cost about 55 cents, and the host of the late night TV show “The Tonight Show” Jimmy Fallon was born. However, those were of little importance compared to the historic case of Tennessee v. Garner. This is a case reminiscent of the recent shootings that have induced the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Although the black lives matter movement was not created until 2013, the public outrage at the Tennessee v. Garner case was similar to the anger shown in protests and online in the past few years. However, there was more to the case than just the shooting of an unarmed black man that made it so controversial.

In “To My People”, a speech by Assata Shakur, a former member of the Black Liberation Army, explains her frustrations and disappointments on how African Americans were treated and more importantly how she was treated by white authorities in the US. Her story is that she was stopped on the turnpike because of a traffic violation in 1973 in New Jersey by Trooper Foerster. During this traffic stop, Shakur was accused of shooting and killing Trooper Foerster with his own gun. Shakur was soon convicted of first degree murder and quickly fled to Cuba. While in Cuba, she wrote and delivered a speech targeted towards her “brothers and sisters” about how unfair African Americans had been treated in the United States. Assata Shakur in this speech utilized a variety of rhetorical devices to emphasize her frustrations with the accusations by the hypocritical US authorities.

Imagine if someone was able to change others perceptions on the American criminal justice system? Michelle Alexander was able to accomplish that by altering some people 's entire perception on the American criminal justice system by focusing on our most pressing civil right issues of our time for some of those who did read her book "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age of Colorblindness." Michelle Alexander stated that "The most despised in America is not gays, transgenders, nor even illegal immigrants - it is criminals." That was an important quote since the stereotypical criminal in our racially divided America in most cases are those of color also known as blacks. This is why the criminal justice system in the United States promotes the mass incarceration of blacks that can be seen through high number of African-Americans going to jail for drugs compared to any other race, the high percentage rates of African-American that are incarcerated, the amount of time that is given to African-Americans compared to any other race in the United States.

According to Alternet.org, “If racism isn’t a factor in opportunity and economic security, then why the overwhelming evidence to the contrary?” Lillian Bertram received the NEA creative writing poetry in 2014. She has also had a grant from the U.S. Embassy for writing a residency. This poem that she displays, describes the killing of Trayvon Martin in a mythical way. She uses examples of how the Volcano people or Separated from the Water people. The Volcano people are considered the African-Americans and Water people are Caucasians. Lillian gives examples in a mythical way how this country is segregated by the color of your skin. In this time period when the murder of Trayvon Martin

She appeals to African Americans to convince them to work together because she believes that they are possible solutions that can resolve racial inequalities. She acknowledges that, “Every revolution in history has been accomplished by actions, although words are necessary … We must create shields that protect us and spears that penetrate our enemies”. The black community should protect themselves from being been brainwashed by the white man and retaliate against the oppressive system. She confronts the white man’s intolerant attitude toward the civil right movement that, “Every Time a black freedom fighter is murder or captured, the pig try to create the impression that they have quenched the movement , destroyed our forces ,and put down the black revolutionary movement.liberation army … at this time is to create good examples, to

Reading MLK’s speech stirred my views on America in the past. Being an immigrant, I never got a complete view on the reasons behind MLK's expressions addressed in his speech, but reading his speech and his word choice, helps me realize why MLK’s words are so precious even in the modern day. MLK uses rhetoric in his speech constantly repeating phrases such as “Now is the time” or “I have a dream”, and I believe this helps readers and listeners to become aware of the cruelty faced by the people MLK addressed. In King Powell’s CNN article, he talks about how a lot of the discrimination still exists to this day. “I can learn from you but you can also learn from me. That is how we do more than tolerate each other. That is how we come to respect

Throughout history African Americans and other minorities have been discriminated against by people in the position of power. In the article “Woman Says She Endured 8 Days In Psych Ward Because Cops Didn't Believe BMW Was Hers” written in the Huffington Post by Christopher Mathias. Talks about how a women named Kamilah Brock is suing the city of New York, because she was arrested by the cops without cause and put in to a psych ward for eight day. All because she was an African American female driving a BMW. This article shows how people in positions with a bit of power will use it to enforce stereotypes that they believe in and as well as how no one will really question their actions. Most notably this article shows the continued of discrimination

The United States of America is known as a country of independence, liberty, and rights; within the lines of our national anthem the Stars Spangled Banner, it is clear to see how the phrases "the land of the free and home of the brave", symbolize the ideals that have been centralized into the American Society for hundreds of years. Despite being recognized as a world power; for its military structure and the "believed" system of possibilities in terms of self advancement, the United States of America houses a very dark and inhumane secret; a sociological failure that perhaps is called that way, given the as a nation, we neglect, fail to address, and persecute those that because of their inherited skin color, look different than the accepted sociological norm of whiteness. It is shameful, to me at least, that the term "American" is a representation of the world 's largest incarceration rate; it’s even more shameful, how we prosecute, isolate, and declare what President Nixon once believed was the proper measure to take on poor communities; the war on drugs. For hundreds of years, we as a country have idealized with what Mustafa Emirbayer & Matthew Desmond have identified in their book Racial Domination, Racial Progress the Sociology of Race in America, as a mistake; mistake that has cost thousands of minorities their reputations and has impacted not only their tranquility, but their overall success rate in the promised land of opportunities.

In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander introduces the idea as to how the modern prison system is used to imprison the African American population in the United States. Alexander seems to believe that the ‘War on Drugs’ has replaced previous forms of racial systematic oppression in the United States, such as slavery and Jim Crow laws. Alexander believes that to amend this form of systematic oppression it is necessary to disregard colorblindness in prison reform and approach modern prison systems as a form of racial oppression and increase affirmative action policies. Even though Alexander makes a valid argument, her identity politic approach seems problematic and antithetical to ending systematic racism in the modern prison system.

For the past few years, racial tensions have been on the rise. Although many actions have been taken to prevent these conflicts from occurring, African Americans are still being undervalued by the state. As more African Americans are being turned away with little to no assistance from the American government, anger and the desire for change increased among them. When Trayvon Martin’s murderer George Zimmerman was acquitted for his crime, a great number of Americans were furious at the outcome. Three African American women named Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi expressed their view on a Facebook post titled “A Love Note to Black People” and it ends with “Our Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter” (“Black Lives Matter”). Thus, a new liberation movement for black people was born. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter rapidly spread throughout social media, bringing awareness of the struggles of African Americans. The Black Lives Matter movement is a call to action to eradicate the dehumanization of African Americans that exists in American society. With the constant targeting of African Americans by the police and the unfair treatment in the criminal justice system, the Black Lives Matter movement is a necessity to combat racism.

In conclusion, Imani Perry did not achieve the goal of her post, which generates quite a debate on her social media between those who see her arrest as an example of racist behavior and others who believe it was an overreaction to a minor incident. Imani Perry did not provide sufficient evidence that her arrest was due to her blackness. By posting her response for what happens in her Facebook account, Imani Perry wants to instigate rage and protest by appealing to her reader’s emotion or pathos and reason or logos. Perry statement, although accurate, appeals to reveal only one side of her story which is deceptive of her. In today’s society, in particular in the United States, the minority groups, Latino and Black community are often subject to harassment, violence, racism and more. Therefore, it is extremely important that people need to admit or take responsibility of their own action when wrong is due as the example of Professor Imani Perry.

“Black Lives Matter” —an intended progression in society without a hierarchy, merely marching forward by spur of the people. Started by three sisters who continue to keep the organization a chapter-based, left wing social justice operation, it can best be described as “Not a moment, but a movement” by those that follow it. The case that began this outcry involved a man —George Zimmerman— whom, according to Lizette Alvarez and Cara Buckley (2013), “was found not guilty [of] second-degree murder [and] was also acquitted of manslaughter, a lesser charge.” (para. 1). Since its initial start in 2013, the movement follows and protests against police brutality and civil injustice towards individuals of the Black minority; however, this is a prime example of hate breeding hate as the movement, has opened a new floodgate full of antipathy aimed towards the White-community and Law Enforcement Officials. In short, the initial idea of “Black Lives Matter” —which is to bring civil justice to the Black-community— is a good concept, but the execution by its adherents are, ironically, bigoted; the movement needs to either evolve its state of thought or disperse before it further segregates America.

Originating in 2012, the political movement known under the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has exploded in size and renown. This movement, which was initially inspired after a police officer was acquitted of all charges after fatally shooting an African American individual, seeks to diminish police brutality against African American individuals and systemic racism particularly in the United States. Sweeping the nation, Black Lives Matter has become an international movement and its influence has only increased with time. On the movement’s official website, the following was written regarding the history of the hashtag-inspired entourage, “#BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was posthumously placed on trial for his own murder. Rooted in the experiences of Black people in this country who actively resist our dehumanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society. Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes.” (http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/). The #BlackLivesMatter movement asserts that racism is still prevalent in modern society and exists not only in passive forms. Instead, racism apparently can be both overt and implicit.

Today, do people have to worry about where they sit while on a public bus, or have the fear of being turned down from entering a restaurant of any sort? During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, African Americans were not treated as human beings. This is proven to be evident throughout the movie, “A Time for Justice”. Throughout the movie, it showed the hardships that African Americans went through to redeem their basic rights as Americans. By trying to peacefully demonstrate their rights they were arrested, beaten, and sometimes even killed. The intolerance got to a point where white folks could even get off of the hook with murder. Of course, the court system was in favor of the whites due to the jury consisting of twelve white men.

I’m going to talk about the speech first, and she says Put your hands up, I shake in fear I plead and cried but they don’t really care. Look at me, look at my skin color is this the reason you want to shoot me? Africans, mexicans, hispanics, is race all that you see? Humiliating and torturing families how can you say you are protecting us? I cannot even walk to the shop without my mother putting up a fuss because she’s afraid I may not come back. To see me laying down in blood while you still try to put my hands in cuffs as you yell at my mom “miss go back.” How is shooting someone that’s not resisting arrest is looking out for the safety of others, As we yell “stop I didn’t do anything” yet our bodies end up in bags to our mothers. Look at me, look at us what did we do to deserve such cruelty. Then you wonder why we riot black lives matter because the system is the problem when it’s suppose to be part of the solution, but they settle it with “it was an accident” conclusion when? When will it stop? How could you walk