Jesus Villalobos Jr. ENGL 2323 Professor Paul J. Niemeyer 02/21/2011 “Hope in the Black Boy” Racism is something that affects almost everybody on earth. Skin color is what separates or scare people from socializing with other people that are different than themselves. In the poem “The Little Black Boy”, a black mother is instilling in the boy faith in himself. Being black isn’t going to stop you from joining god in heaven. The essence of this poem is hope, faith, and acceptance.
President Obama’s A More Perfect Union speech that he delivered conveyed many messages about his beliefs concerning racism. He starts off explaining how the founders of our nation made the Constitution creating all men equal, but not actually practicing that idea. Obama is the son of a white woman and a Kenyan man, and there is much criticism about his supporters supporting him purely because of his race. His former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright recently spoke some very controversial words concerning the issue of racism, which created much unease. Obama goes on to say that his former pastor is a good man, that he just has lived and grew up in a time where segregation and the Jim Crow Laws were very much legal in the U.S.
Centuries later the Negro community was still riddled by racial injustice and oppression. These contradictions to the original visions of the founding fathers were still very much in existence when Dr. King made his speech. A scholar who graduated and received a bachelor degree in sociology from Morehouse College, Martin Luther King’s speech, “I Have a Dream” was carefully crafted to encourage and motivate the predominantly Negro audience to take a stand for an equal democracy. “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off… Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.” King’s tone when he delivered his speech was derived from the cadence and rhythms of a preacher. His speech consisted of various literary elements such as figurative language and repetitive phrases that painted a vivid mural in the mind of the listener: “My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Rhetorical Analysis: Martin Luther King Jr an educated christan who left the crowd astonished after his speech. His goal was to abolish slavery and have whites and blacks in the same place with no hostility, to live in peace for as long as people are on this earth. His dream took flight after that astonishing speech. He encouraged blacks to protest but without violence. That day marked a note in the history books and is now taught today.
He makes use of rhetorical devices to convey his message that "all men are created equal" and that racism should not, cannot, continue if the nation is to prosper. Dr. King uses eloquent declarations and testimonials to appeal to his audience's emotions and express the trials and tribulations endured by African Americans. The speech ‘I Have a Dream’ is one of the most memorable speeches of all times. The primary message of this momentous and profound, emotional speech was that all people were born equal and that liberation needed to be done wisely, peacefully, and urgently. King emphasized that the only way to achieve this was through improved civil rights and equality.
In Brent Staples essay entitled Black Men and Public Space, he discusses issues of him being racially profiled on several occasions, and because of this he had been falsely considered a threat on these occasions (Staples). With all the negativity in the media and in movies surrounding racial prejudice and profiling over the years it is only natural to assume that if someone was found to be in the same situations discussed in this essay they would probably react similarly to everyone described by Staples. For some people in Staple’s situation it is possible that they may even get angry and turn violent which would only make the stereotypes true, but for him he chose the alternative, which was to be a little more understanding of the situations by doing things that made these individuals around him feel safe and comfortable, i.e. whistling Beethoven or just giving them a little extra room when on his night walks. This essay also raises a good question, should it be ok for law enforcement or the government to use racial profiling to make arrest or to just simply stop someone because of their race?
Racism in the 1960s was a huge decade and a battle between white and colored people. Propaganda played a big part in changing people’s minds. There is a whole range of media used to spread this propaganda, from prejudice commercials to inspiring speeches, for example ’I have a Dream from Birmingham Jail. People such as Martin Luther King Jr. tried to draw people to him by giving arrange speeches to the American public into changing people’s mind on segregation and to put an end to racism. Groups such as the KKK didn’t like to scare blacks into trying to leave town by putting up signs, burning homes down and killing people throughout the entire country, to show people the stand for what they believe in.
Directly revealing the main purpose of his speech in the opening sentence: “‘We the people, in order to form a perfect union [,]’” (Obama 647), Obama says straightforwardly to the audience the obligation to build this nation belongs not only to himself or the people owning more power, but also to the rest of American citizens, all the people who concern about their country. Speaking to the American public, Obama speaks to white people and black people in different sections of his text and shows his comprehension of both sides. He expresses the understanding of a “lack of economic opportunity among black men”
This also gives the police the chance to brutalise the blacks which would damage the image of black people as the white citizens wouldn’t want to help the black if they are involved in violence. So Malcolm X use of violence would lose him supporters for his campaign, which will decrease his campaigns popularity and so the federal government would have no reason to support the demands of the black civil rights. Another organisation also worked to introduce the idea of self-defence. The BPP argued that black people needed an organised defence as they could not trust the police or the US justice system. According to Huey Newton a leader of the BPP the police ‘occupied’ the black ghettos, so the BPP organised its own peoples’ army who patrolled black neighbourhoods
He also explains the goals and solutions of the problem which the black population was facing consistently. Later, he gives the opinion that the fate of white people is tied up with the destiny of the black and their peaceful coexistence is essential for the progress and prosperity of the state. He then moves on to describe the potential of the population that has not been allowed to participate in the progress of the country. He argued that if given respect, opportunity and responsibility, the African Americans would be capable enough to be active participants in nation building. He beautifully told that it is the duty of the government to uproot the racial discrimination between the blacks and whites.