Illumination

Ideological Criticism - Final Project

INTRODUCTION

            Everyone always has a choice; too many don’t recognize that fact.  In this artifact these students deserve the chance to reach their greatest potential, if they choose correctly.   However, to select the preeminent path requires knowledge, which is often derived through formal education.

            I believe the greatest asset for a child is a dedicated parent(s) that has unending vision and purpose to instill knowledge.   In today’s society, with single parent households, working parents, language challenges, ethnic diversities, often staggering economic disparity; a passionate teacher may be the only lifeline for a child’s basic survival or chance to find knowledge and real purpose in life.  The parental, academic, and social hegemony that governs youth ideology, must work in harmony for a youth today to succeed. 

            In the late 1960’s I attended three high schools in California.  LA High School, which was over ninety-percent minority, mostly African American, then Fairfax High School, with an over ninety-nine percent student body of the Jewish faith, and finally University High School, which was a conglomerate of all ethnicities California had to offer, as well as diverse social economic conditions.  Some students arrived by chauffeured driven limousines, some drove Corvettes, while others were bused in from outlying ghettoes.   My view of the challenges faced by students to achieve an education has been diverse and extensive.  The 1960’s was also the preamble for rebellion against most forms of organized hegemonic ideology and the inauguration of social freedom and independence.

            In 1984 my first child was lottery selected to be bused thirty minutes away to Carson Elementary to start kindergarten.  A school located in a low-income Hispanic community that I would not let my wife drive through even during daylight hours.   Not because of prejudice, but because of safety and common sense.  Whereas a perfect school I had selected for my child was only one block away from my home, my son was commanded to be bused to Carson City, California.  I fought and lost a battle with the State of California over this issue.  So before school started I uprooted our lives and moved my family to Utah.  I exercised a choice.

            I have observed throughout life the inequality of ethnic and social injustices, without finding many solutions.   The one elucidation I have come to know is the only semblance of equality lies in knowledge, but that simply becomes a catch phrase for education.  Education is not enlightenment.  Enlightenment is when someone “gets it” for themselves.  Enlightenment is when they discover a purpose and drive to reach their own potential to deduce unique choices.   That is a time when a parent, or more likely a teacher, has turned on the light of illumination in the mind of a person where they can see choices or a future beyond their own existence, often for the first time.

            In this artifact, a vignette of the movie Dangerous Minds, I propose this teacher, Miss Johnson, stumbles on a way to illuminate student paradigms, providing a gateway to overcome their ethnic, geographic and/or social hegemonic conditions.   

INTERPRETATION & CONTEXT

          Dangerous Minds is a movie based on the novel My Posse Don’t Do Homework, by LouAnne Johnson (http://www.louannejohnson.com/bio.htm).  The movie is a rendition of Miss Johnson’s life during her tenure as a teacher at Carlmont High School, located in northern California in the early 1990’s.  Johnson was a former Navy journalist and Marine Corps Officer who uses her education and experiences to teach high school subjects to bused-in-minorities, mostly Hispanic and African-American students.   She attempts to open stubborn minds in this artifact.

            Since the 1960’s when bussing students in California became one solution to equalizing education throughout the state, many successes and failures occurred.  There are still questions today as to the effectiveness of bussing students to other schools.  This artifact exposes the audience to a conversation between a dedicated teacher and, what many would call, typical students in the challenge of enlightening closed minds.  

            From a physical and temporal aspect, since all students are co-mingled together in a common institution, it should represent equality for all.  However, if students are classified by ethnicity, ability, or some other classification within sub-groups for class structure, then this equality is lost.  Are students really homogenized just because of physical location or temporal conditions?  If oil and water never mix, but are within the same container, do they become one?  The answer, of course, is no.  Therefore, the question that should be asked is how you can equalize the learning process for all students, if not by equal opportunity through location.

            One answer is to throw more money at the education system, to create equality.   Yet, money does not address the psychological and cultural differences between the students.  How does an educational system address the students that have been bused from poverty into temporary prosperity for a few hours and told to learn like the wealthy kids, then bused back to poverty, gangs, drugs and despair for the majority of their day?  The mental conflicts would overwhelm the most stable individual. 

            There are two elements to this artifact we’ll explore in this rhetorical analysis.  First, we will look at the students and their perceptions of why they are attending this high school.  The artifact suggests they are there because they have no other choice.  Many, if not all, really don’t want to be there nor want to engage in the process of learning.  Observe their non-verbal communication in class of twirling a pen, sitting on desks or with bowed heads.  In fact, the students have a grievance with the second element to this artifact, the teacher Miss Johnson.   They believe she ratted-out one of their own fellow students, and for that treachery she will receive only disrespect. 

            Miss Johnson is there because she wants to make a difference, but can she relate to students from a totally different ethnic and socially-economic background.  If she can overcome this obstacle, she still must learn how to reach the minds of these students.   Miss Johnson introduces a poem with lyrics that might as well be Greek to this class.   Initially, it is not the words of the poem that creates the learning experience; it is the conflict between these two cultures.   The fact that Miss Johnson is thought to have ratted one of their fellow classmates, has created a teaching opportunity for enlightenment.   That event isn’t the issue; it is the circumstances of the students’ ideologies preventing the learning process.  The students vent and the teacher challenges, “Then leave… There are no victims in this class room!”  Instead of leaving, they are enlightened.

            So what then is accomplished in this classroom?  Through this rhetorical analysis can we establish what parts of this artifact were effective and why.  If we discover the impetus of success in this artifact, we might have a tool for other similar situations. 

DESCRIPTION OF ANALYSIS

            This artifact is well suited for a hegemonic ideological analysis.  There are many hegemony forces in play affecting the students’ ability to independently learn and develop rational thoughts.  There are distinct elements within this artifact affecting the students’ outcome, the school system, teacher, and foremost the student with their own hegemony paradigms from parents, gangs, peers and society.   Hegemonic ideoloy defines the power and advantages enjoyed by one group of people over another group.  This usually is a result of social or economic dominance and or coercion over a less powerful faction, which helps us to understand why groups function in certain ways. 

             The concept of hegemony was postulated by the Marxist theoretician Antonio Gramsci in the 20^th-century.    His theory of cultural hegemony is that one social class can dominate over another diverse group through the manipulation of that group’s values, perceptions and beliefs, whereby that ideology becomes the norm in that society, to the benefit to the ruling class.  In this artifact we will primarily focus on the hegemony that affects the students’ ability to learn and think for themselves. 

FINDINGS & ANALYSIS

          Hegemony says that one group, by their own self election, has power to coerce another groups ideology, most often through social controls.   This is at the core of the students in Miss Johnson’s class, and what I believe this artifact is portraying.

 

            These minority students from birth have been told by one group or another exactly what to do, and what the consequences are if they don’t.   Parental hegemony is telling these kids to ignore the street gangs, the drug dealers and pimps.  Get an education and get out of this ghetto condition and make something of their life.  Gang hegemony is telling these kids go ahead and try to escape, but you’ll be back because this is the only way to survive when society knocks you down.  Societal hegemony tells them they will do everything possible to make a bridge for them to escape; they will provide busses to good schools, with great teachers who care, so they can learn the skills to elevate themselves. 

 

            What they think is reality sets in, when they assume Miss Johnson has ratted out a classmate.  Sitting there in self-pity for what life is really about, the hegemony of their street life foretold what is happening.  No matter what they do, getting up early to catch the bus really doesn’t make any difference, they have no choice.   The ideology established by their surroundings at home, in their real world, always takes precedent.

 

            Without the challenge by Miss Johnson “Well, if you all feel that strongly about it, leave the room,” some might not have gotten on the bus the next day.  Thus, making a choice they didn’t know they could, yet not understanding that choice is always an option. 

 

            Hegemonic control is so strong it causes people to ignore the choices that are readily in front of them.  This peer-pressure dictates our actions to the point where we stop thinking and analyzing our options. 

 

            What is fundamental in this artifact is that Miss Johnson also represents the hegemony group known as educators.  It is in her interest, and her group’s interest, to coerce these same students to her agenda of opening the doors of enlightenment.  She wants these students to break away from the street gangs hegemonic bonds tying these kids to future poverty and less productive lives.   She opens their eyes when she states, “What do they choose to do?”  Miss Johnson explains simply they have a choice to get on the bus, come to school and learn or stay home and sell drugs and kill people, but it is a choice.

 

            The moment I found most profound is when one student asks, “Read it again.”  That student had just made a decision to really try and understand a different perspective from an opposing faction to his normal core.  In that instant while analyzing that phrase from a poem, the synapses took place where neurons fired in his brain for the first time that opened new roadways of never before conjured thoughts.  That was the initial spark, in this class, for further enlightenment.   A switch had been turned-on in darkness, thus light could flow to see new paths for these students.   This group had broken hegemonic chains, and was on a path to illumination.

          They could choose for themselves, “When I go to my grave… My head will be high.”  As one student surmise, by making your own choices, “You’re gonna die with pride.”
 

            I wonder if in this class is a future President like Barrack Obama, someone who has been enlightened to his own potential, an individual that has escaped the hegemonic dominance of oppressive groups that might someday rise to the highest stature in this land.   If a single spark can start a forest fire, can a single neuron ignite a brilliant mind? 

INSIGHTS

          America is deteriorating in its responsibility to adequately educate our young people and preparing them for the future.  There is significant evidence that families in the worst economic conditions, along with many minorities, often face the worst challenges when it comes to securing an acceptable education.  Sadly, this isn’t a money issue.  As a nation we have substantially increased funds to education, yet the rewards for that investment fail to show significant results.

            I believe this artifact demonstrates for education to succeed, the student must have a dynamic reason to learn.  Someone has to turn on their lights.  This someone is a teacher.  It takes a passionate effective educator with intuitive perception to break barriers in these difficult teaching situations.  The wisdom offered by this analysis is that, illumination of a student’s mind is not about money, location, administration, facilities, or programs; it is about connecting and effective communication that stimulates student thought.  Granted, these other issues have purpose and necessity, but the true value of an education is solely in the hands of the student and the teacher.  Without focus by either, enlightenment will never occur.   That puts a great burden upon the shoulders of every teacher, for they must supply the spark to ignite students.

            Miss Johnson stated she does not teach for the money.  Therefore, the question for society is to find out what ignites a teacher and motivates them to achieve this kind of success in the classroom.  This artifact has shown how motivation and enlightenment works for students even under adverse conditions.  One nugget of wisdom left to discover in the future is what will motivate teachers not to give up that inner spark that brought them to this career.  What makes some teachers rise to this level of accomplishment?  Can we as a society look beyond the traditional solutions for education of throwing more money, programs and administration at this bottomless pit, and discover what motivates a Miss Johnson or simply how to hire more just like her. 

            This artifact took place over twenty years ago, and the challenges today are even greater.  In these cyberspace times with internet, I-pads, cell phones, and facebook, without question a new cyber hegemony has been created.  We need more than just teachers today; we must find passionate motivational educational entertainers.  The future will require “Edutainers” for teachers if we are to break through and illuminate students.    

 

Words to the script for this segment of the movie:  

Color Codes for Script:

Words of the poem

Miss Johnson (Michelle Phiffer) speaking

Students speaking

Illumination

......................................................................................................................................................................

"I will not go down underground because somebody tells me that death's comin round"
Okay, this is another Dylan poem.
Now, is that a code, or does that just mean what it says?
"And I will not carry myself down to die
When I go to my grave my head will be high"
"My head will be high."
What does that mean?
Anybody
Nobody
Is there something I should know?

Yeah. I'll tell you.

You ratted on Raul, Gusmaro and Emilio.
Yeah. You got Emilio put into detention.
It wasn't none of your business, chismosa,
And you got Rauland, Gusmaro suspended.
Now they're gonna get their fuckin' asses kicked.
And you got Emilio

Hey, I didn't rat on anybody.

Wasn't none of your business anyway, you chismosa.

Bullshit.
Let this..
Told you she was full of shit.
Snitches get stitches, bitch.

Do you wanna talk about this?

 On you, shit.

Whatever floats your boat, teach.
We don't have no choices in this room.

Well, if you all feel that strongly about it, leave the room.

What?
Hey, listen.
Nobody's forcing you to be here.
You have a choice.
You can stay, or you can leave.

Lady, why are you playin' this game?

We don't have a choice.

You don't have a choice?
You don't have a choice on whether or not you're here?

No. lf we leave, we don't get to graduate.

If we stay, we gotta put up with you.

Well, that's a choice, isn't it?

You have a choice.
You either don't graduate or you have to put up with me.
It may not be a choice you like, but it is a choice.

Man, you don't understand nothing.

I mean, you don't come from where we live.
You-You're not bussed here.

 Do you have a choice to get on that bus?

Man, you come and live in my neighborhood for one week and then you tell me if you got a choice.

There are a lot of people who live in your neighborhood who choose not to get on that bus.

What do they choose to do?
They choose to go out and sell drugs.
They choose to go out and kill people.
They choose to do a lot of other things.
But they choose not to get on that bus.
The people who choose to get on that bus, which are you, are the people who are saying, "I will not carry myself down to die… When I go to my grave… My head will be high"
That is a choice.
There are no victims in this class room!

Why do you care anyway?

You just here for the money.

Because I make a choice to care.

And, honey, the money ain't that good.

Whatever.

Read it again, Miss Johnson.

What? 

Read those lines you just read again.

 "I will not go down underground... Because somebody tells me that death's comin' 'round"

Does that mean just what it says?

No, it don't mean just what it says.
Because you wouldn't go under the ground if someone told you death was comin'.
But you would go into the ground if you were already dead.

Do the rest of you agree with that?

Well, I kinda agree with it, but I think it just means that he ain't gonna help death out, you know?

It's not like he's just gonna lay down and wait for it.
I think he's gonna choose- No, I think he's gonna make the choice to die hard.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I agree with that.
Yeah, me too.
That's what it sounds like to me.

Okay.

Well, what about, uh, the rest of it?
Um "When I go to my grave… My head will be high"
"Head will be high."  What does that mean?

You're gonna die with pride.

Right?



http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/d/dangerous-minds-script-transcript-pfeiffer.html

Narrative Criticism

Fill The World With Love

My second most favoriate song... 

Fill the World with Love - Mormon Tabernacle Choir

From: Goodbye Mr. Chips
Music & Lyrics by: Leslie Bricusse.
Origional Artist: Petula Clark
Album: Goodbye Mr. Chips

Lyrics: Fill The World With Love

In the morning of my life I shall look to the sunrise.
At a moment in my life when the world is new.
And the blessing I shall ask is that God will grant me,
To be brave and strong and true,
And to fill the world with love my whole life through.

(Chorus)
And to fill the world with love
And to fill the world with love
And to fill the world with love my whole life through

In the noontime of my life I shall look to the sunshine,
At a moment in my life when the sky is blue.
And the blessing I shall ask shall remain unchanging.
To be brave and strong and true,
And to fill the world with love my whole life through

(Chorus)

In the evening of my life I shall look to the sunset,
At a moment in my life when the night is due.
And the question I shall ask only I can answer.
Was I brave and strong and true?
Did I fill the world with love my whole life through?

(Chorus)

My Comments:

            Events of the past two weeks have caused me to revisit the inspiring wisdom demonstrated in a song I first learn while attending Dixie College in 1972.  This song, and its powerful lyrics, were first introduced and taught to me by Roene Difiore, as a participant of Dixie’s Program Bureau.  This song became an ambition. 

             What brought this song into conscious were two simultaneous events, only days apart.  First, of learning of my nephews attempted suicide because of his perceived total failures in life at age 34 and second, of a great-nephew being bullied so bad (age 9), that caused him to write a detailed suicide plan last week.  

             Life delivers everyone threatening challenges that sometimes cause us to contemplate ending this precious gift. Without having purpose, far too many succeed in ending their journey.  These lyrics have given me vision not to give up when facing mine.  I hope my nephews may soon find their own foundations.

             This artifact meets the requirements for a narrative criticism as it tells a story with both active and stative events drawing on emotions of the rhetor and listener.  It clearly is organized in the life cycle time sequence. The message also promotes change then asks the question if those charges for action were met.  Finally, this narrative has a unified subject to challenge oneself, throughout their life, to fill the world with love.

Metaphor Artifact

          Source: This artifact was one of many pictures featured in Life Magazine [see logo in picture] showing this child smoking, exact date is unknown, but is believed to be around 1954. This picture and those below, are from my own personal files.


     This picture, of a child smoking a cigarette being lit by his mom, is my metaphorical artifact. I choose this artifact because it upsets me. America is still having similar debates on whether to legalize other potential addicting substances with possible health hazards. My analysis seeks to look at the metaphors presented in this artifact as to the purpose of framing this event.

     The metaphor presented is that smoking is safe, it’s even safe-enough for a child. It is so safe that even mom will light the cigarette for her son, because we all know matches are dangerous, but cigarettes aren’t. Smoking is also natural and experienced by nice modern families together in their own home.

     This artifact is full of metaphors, here are some examples. 

  • Vehicle – The child / Tenor – Children are there to be loved by parents.

  • Vehicle – The mom / Tenor – Mom’s are there to protect their child.

  • Vehicle – The home / Tenor – The home is the safest place on earth.

  • Vehicle – The cigarette / Tenor – We only want what’s safe and best for our child.

  • Vehicle – The matches / Tenor – Matches are held away from the child by mom, because matches are dangerous and could hurt a child.

  • Vehicle – The open window blinds / Tenor – We want the world to see all is safe in our home. Look inside and see us as a family.

  • Vehicle – Ash tray with cigarette / Tenor – We are smoking together, we’re not hiding that we believe it is safe for even kids to smoke with their parent.

  • Vehicle – Mom’s short hair / Tenor – In the 1950’s only a modern mother had short hair, mom is hip and with the times.

  • Vehicle – Mom’s clothes / Tenor – In the 1950’s moms usually always wore dresses, but not this mom because she is progressive in her attitude and independence.

  • Vehicle – Childs clothes / Tenor – The child isn’t wearing play cloths, he is so smart and sophisticated that he would rather be indoors lighting up with mom.

  • Vehicle – Childs cufflinks / Tenor – Mom only provides the best for her child, not just button cuffs, but those that require nice cufflinks. This is a nice family.

  • Vehicle – Mom’s and Child’s physic / Tenor – Both are trim and look well fit, demonstrating that smoking keeps you healthy.

  • Vehicle – Plush couch / Tenor – This is also an affluent family with nice furniture, they must be educated and successful.

  • Vehicle – Cat on couch / Tenor – Even our cat is well mannered, so we must be a great family to like pets.


You’re welcome to post some that you observe.

    

Ideological Criticism - May The Force Be With You

                Having a strong belief in good verse evil, this artifact was perfect for my ideological criticism.  I stumbled on it, for the first time, this weekend.   This YouTube, at the onset, appears to be a parody of both Star Wars, and the dueling banjo scene from the movie Deliverance.  My oldest middle-aged son, Travis, is still a Star Wars fanatic.  I vividly remember taking him to that movie for the first time and watching him explode in excitement, much as I did when I first saw Superman and Star Trek, as man challenged the next frontier to fight evil.

                Deliverance was the first movie I ever walked out on.  I was on a first date with a beautiful Mormon girl, and it infuriated me that sodomy could be displayed on a public screen as entertainment.  I had also just blown the entire week’s dating budget on that film.  That move was a conundrum because; I also loved the theme song, Dueling Banjos.  Can you love something that displays evil and good at the same time?  This is why I chose this artifact; it brought two memories of vivid opposite emotions, right and wrong. 

                There is no question, on the surface; this artifact is about Star Wars. The costumes and scenery are an amazing portrayal, but they are playing the theme song with electronic cellos in a dueling banjo style.   The stage is simplistic, yet perfect for this production of the Star Wars Cello Dueling Universe.     The backdrop is a light colored earth-type planet on one side [the good place] and a red planet on the other [the dark side], which seems divided, or possibly guarded in the middle, by a satellite embedded with a black circle. 

                I observed this artifact as a portrayal of a Christian value ideology.  It emerges as a duel of good verse evil, with an observing entity in the middle and watching through a dark hidden eye.  Within the first 30 seconds we see two opposing men, who look like brothers, one dressed in white the other black, playing matching colored instruments that starts out like a true battle for dominance over the other.  It’s a cleaver dueling cello saga of who is better or who should live.  Soon their bows turn to light sabers in colors of white, for purity, and red, for evil.   There are symbolisms throughout the performance with clashes of sabers then hands unleashing the powers of their Gods demonstrating force-fields and lightning-bolts.  There clenched teeth and tight jaw let you know this might be a fight to the death, a dominant Christian ideology of good triumphing over evil.  At 1:46 in the message, good wards off evil with the wave of his hand.   Darth Vardar then appears, possibly portraying the Devil, and takes up playing an accordion.  Is this the Devils ultimate weapon of submission, as both mortals begin to cower in fear?   I could see an accordion being that instrument, bringing mere mortals to their knees the longer it is played.  Is this artifact really saying that they are not brothers, but instead the same individual with opposing personality traits, a light and dark side to their single presence?  That becomes more plausible as they seem to come together to silence Darth Vardar (about 3:20).  However, Darth Vardar then begins dancing with Chewbacca, who has made fleeting cameo appearances.  Is Chewbacca the symbol for the Holy Spirit, who is there to offer assistance to the mortals by sidetracking the deeds of the evil one?

                Then a crescendo takes form when both mortals are knocked back, then take a critical stance and spring-charge into the air in a final saber death attack against the other.  Then it just ends. 

                This artifact has only been an attempt to entertain by creating a viral YouTube video which, with 5.6 million hits, it is.  The final few seconds is a shameless, but cleaver rouse, to have you post it on your Facebook account and spam it to all your friends.  It is nothing more than a cleaver, and well done, modern form of advertisement.  Or is it?  Did evil win thus spamming and Facebook are tools of the evil one you are now the vessel for spreading his message?

                Is there another ideological message here as well, that the fight of good verse evil is eternal, only interrupted by brief commercial breaks?  I see these deeper meanings in my ideological interpretation of this artifact. 

I'm waiting for a call Jeff...

 

I know you want it all...

 

... I'll even sweeten the DEAL!!!

The Reverend Al Sharpton’s Speech for a Call to Justice,

Neo-Aristotelian Analysis

The Reverend Al Sharpton’s Speech for a Call to Justice, Regarding the Death of Trayvon Martin on March 22, 2012

     It is not surprising there has been an abundance of recent media coverage and criticism regarding the events and circumstances surrounding the death of Trayvon Martin by the volunteer citizen neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, in Florida over a month ago. This tragic event was further brought into the spotlight by The Reverend Al Sharpton, at a rally held on March 22, 2012, were he gave a speech to a large audience about the injustice of Trayvon’s death. There have been a number of critics to his speech that feel he is espousing dangerous rhetoric about the issue of justice, as it relates to the events that transpired, raising the ugly term racism as a catalyst.

     Racial incidents have occurred throughout American history, with more extreme public events like the Rodney King beating by police officers, the O.J. Simpson trial, Kent State killings incident, and the Watts Riots in Los Angeles making headlines and causing racial tensions throughout America. This event may, or already has, risen to that same level of notoriety.

     I propose to explore Reverend Al Sharpton’s speech utilizing a Neo-Aristotelian analysis to identify the character, or ethos of Reverend Sharpton, where and why this took place and the style of arguments he used with his audience. While the Neo-Aristotelian theory was the first formal method for analyzing this type of artifact, and dates back to 1925 to an essay written by Herbert A. Wichelns, it still offers a basic foundation in rhetorical criticism. Most scholars feel that the limitations and restrictions on the style used by Neo-Aristotelian, or the traditional method as it is often termed today, still provides a foundation for analysis. This traditional method tends to focus on a limited amount of factors, explored in this critique of the Reverends speech. According to the student textbook Rhetorical Criticism, (Foss, 2009, p. 23), “…neo-Aristotelianism excludes all evaluations other than the speech’s potential for evoking intended response from an immediate, specified audience.” Another key limitation to this traditional type of criticism is that it does not allow one to differentiate non-rational from rational critique. Finally, this type of analysis is thought to be self-fulfilling because the analysis uses a standard list of categories for its analysis. To use a metaphor, this investigation will utilize an old fashion slide rule, instead of a calculator, to analyze the question, “Did the rhetor use the available means of persuasion to evoke the intended response from the audience?”

     

     The Circumstances

     The city of Sanford is located just north of Orlando, Florida and is comprised of 53,000 people, with 57% being white and 30% black. Florida is among 21 states with a “Stand Your Ground Law” that gives wide latitude for citizens to use deadly force in protecting their rights rather than retreat during a fight. This law protects you, not only within the home, but anywhere a person is located.

Within Sanford is a gated community that has experienced a number of intrusions and burglaries.

     On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin was with his father, Tracy Martin, visiting the father’s fiancé in the gated community experiencing intrusions. On that evening around 7pm, Trayvon was returning from a 7-Eleven with a bag of Skittles and an ice-tea to watch the NBA All-Star game with his little step-brother. Trayvon is a black 17 year-old weighing about 150 pounds and standing six feet one inch tall, wearing a dark hoodie, who had just been suspended from high school that week for possession of trace amounts of marijuana at school.

     That night on patrol in the neighborhood was a volunteer watch captain, George Zimmerman, who was carrying a black Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm semi-automatic pistol, in a holster on his waistband. The gun was licensed and Zimmerman had a permit to carry this weapon. Zimmerman weights about 190 pounds and stands five feet nine inches tall. Zimmerman is a 28 year old of white and Latino mix.

     A call is made to 911 by Zimmerman when he comes across Trayvon walking through the gated community. Zimmerman said on the 911 tape, “This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about." The 911 officer responded saying, "OK, and this guy… is he black, white or Hispanic?" "He looks black," Zimmerman said.

     The 911 dispatcher informs Zimmerman to stop following Trayvon that police will be on their way. Minutes later Trayvon is shot by Zimmerman, who claims self defense during a struggle with Trayvon, shortly after that call. Trayvon is killed and Zimmerman is left with a wound to the back of his head and blood coming from his noise, according to paramedics who treated Zimmerman at the scene.

     There is a surveillance tape produced by police, with sound that hears someone screaming for help and then records the shot from this incident. Two separate investigators from the American College of forensic Examination Internationally have opposite claims of whose voice is on the tape.

     Police investigators release Zimmerman at the scene, for lack of evidence that he was not acting in self-defense. A month later, Police Chief Bill Lee Jr. temporally resigned over this investigation and Governor Rick Scott appoints a Special Prosecutor, Angela Corey, from Jacksonville, Florida, to open a formal investigation. The FBI has also opened up an investigation about this incident as well as the US Department of Justice, who is looking into civil rights violations.

Neo-Aristotelian Analysis of Reverend Sharpton’s Speech

1. Who is speaking (the persona)

     The Reverend Al Sharpton is a renowned veteran civil rights leader and the host of "Politics Daily" on NBC’s news outlet, MSNBC. In 2004 he unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States. He was born in 1954 in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised during a chaotic period of racial tensions and social changes in America. Reverend Sharpton is also President of the National Action Network (NAN), a well-known and established civil rights organization. Although, he grew up decades after the abolishment of slavery, the 1960’s was a period of racial civil unrest and public incidents.

     At the age of four, Al Sharpton preached his first sermon at the Washington Temple Church of God & Christ in Brooklyn and was licensed as a minister at age nine by Bishop F.D. Washington. By age 13 he was already involved in civil rights and was appointed by the Reverend Jesse Jackson as a youth director for a New York group founded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. At age 16 Reverend Sharpton founded the National Youth Movement to promote voter registration and cultural awareness.

    

     Reverend Sharpton attended public schools and college, and was awarded an honorary degree from the A.P Clay Bible College. He has founded and directed progressive civil rights organizations throughout his career and had a focus on eliciting political strength for people of color. In 1994, he was baptized a member of Bethany Baptist Church, where he is still a member today, although his preaching and sermons are delivered throughout this country and worldwide on occasion.

     While most kids are growing up on the streets of New York playing sports and riding bikes, Reverend Sharpton was enthralled with civil rights issues and rubbing shoulders with leaders like Dr. King and Jessie Jackson. He not only was an observer of the civil rights issues of the past 50 years, he was an active participant from the age of four. This is the core of the individual, a strong religious belief for equality for all men, regardless of color, and promoting the political means to achieve that equality through speeches, rallies, events and modern media methods. This is the persona of the Reverend Al Sharpton.

 2. What's the occasion (justification)?

     This artifact takes place in Sanford, Florida, where Trayvon Martin was killed. This rally is a call to action of any and all the resources available to investigate the death of Trayvon and to secure the arrest of George Zimmerman who killed him.

3. Who is the audience?

     This artifact, a speech by Reverend Al Sharpton, was directed to several audiences simultaneously. It was directed at the family, friends, neighbors, and local supporters of the tragic death of Trayvon. Also in attendance at this rally were over 8,000 people, dominantly of black ethnicity, showing up for this rally to hear the message from Reverend Sharpton. However, there was also choreographed an intense media conglomerate to secure an audience of millions of people through the use of television, news, internet, radio, blogs, facebook and twitter. The number of microphones set up on the podium gives evidence to the orchestration of seeking this secondary audience.

4. What is the rhetor's claim?

     Reverend Sharpton makes claims that justice for Trayvon’s death is not being handled appropriately by the local police, governmental agencies or politicians. He claims that a killer is free that should be immediately arrested and sitting in court handcuffed behind his back. He also claims that this incident was done because of racisms on the part of George Zimmerman and that justice has not been forthwith because of racism on the part of city officials. He claims that those supporting Trayvon will never leave or stop supporting this injustice, until Zimmerman is incarcerated.

5. What is the logical appeal (logos)?

     The Reverend’s appeal to the audience is that the facts are simple and logical. An upstanding youth of seventeen was merely walking home from a 7-Eleven and was sought out by a racist individual, for no apparent reason other than the color of his skin and wearing a dark hoodie, and was shot in the back of the head. He purports that the local officer and the Chief of Police were also racially biased and let Zimmerman go because it was a simple case of a white person killing a black person. Reverend Sharpton suggests that the “Stand Your Ground Law” in effect in Florida gives racist citizens the ability to kill people of color without cause and avoid prosecution.

6. Inductive, deductive reasoning?

     The Reverend uses both inductive and deductive reasoning in his examples. Inductively he contends that if you are racist, and encounter a person of a different color your will respond in a specific way recognized by all racist individuals. He does not go so far as to say all white people are racist of black people wearing hoodie’s, but comes close to a deductive syllogism in his call for not accepting this stereotyping any longer. He uses enthymemes like, “Don’t talk to us like were stupid”, throughout this artifact to support his appeal.

7. What is it's credible appeal (ethos)?

     The character of Reverend Sharpton is above reproach within his circle of influence and most generally amongst people nationally. He is thought of in the same light as individuals like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who cares passionately for people and the rights of freedom for all. He exhumes control through his mannerisms and by previous experience in supporting those who have been wronged or are downtrodden, without judgment of them. Within the black community, he is considered one of the most powerful and respected leaders in America today. When he offers opinions they become very powerful in persuasion because of his status and ethos.

8. What is it's emotional appeal (pathos)?

     Reverend Sharpton used a very profound emotional strategy in this artifact. He announced to the audience that he was attending this event just hours after the death of his own mother, with the comment that this is where she would want him to be. He also made a point that kids are suppose to bury their mothers, and that mothers should never have to bury her child, as in the case of Trayvon. This is about as powerful of a pathos statement one could make bringing up the death of a mother and a child in the artifact. Love of family is a very strong pathos appeal. He uses another powerful appeal when he starts a collection for Trayvon’s parents so they will not have to worry about financial issues while dealing with this injustice. He provides his own pledge of $2,500 and secures immediate pledges of over $20,000 from members in his group on the podium. Then Reverend Sharpton passes a bucket throughout the crowd for collecting money, to show the world that they can “finance our own movement.” There are numerous emotional appeals as Reverend Sharpton begins creating his new “movement.”

9. What is the artifact's structure?

     It appears that Reverend Sharpton is speaking from memory, off the cuff and without notes. He covers a wide range of issues and topics but the overall structure is to promote action to this cause and to create a new movement.

10. How does language impact the goal of meaning?

     This artifact begins with Reverend Sharpton offering a chant that the crowd responds to, “No Justice… No Piece.” This is repeated several times and is the first words issued by him. The language and meaning is clear, this is a call to action for the cause of justice for Trayvon Martin. His speech is slow almost staccato in delivery pounding home points of his campaign. He evokes the audience to respond with approval to his demand for justice. The words are simple and direct, appropriate to any education or intellect level of an audience. He is speaking to them as if they were one, not a lecture to them. The delivery is clear we are all in this together. Justice for Trayvon, and to bring about the arrest of Zimmerman, must be accomplished. We are here to create a movement.

11. If spoken, how is the artifact delivered?

     It is a very straight forward, yet powerful delivery. Emotion is evoked but not displayed by Reverend Sharpton. Even when he is talking about the death of his mother he maintains complete composure and control. This is the delivery by a man with a purpose.

12. Was the intended effect met?

     The intended effect for this artifact was to rally the audience in attendance and the audience watching to band together behind a cry for justice for Trayvon and the calling for the arrest of George Zimmerman. It was also a rally of passion to a cause and for a new movement. The cause is for injustice to blacks and people of color to end across the country. There was also an intention to create a movement within the black community of solidarity and unity against stereotyping of blacks just because of color, clothes, or even common habits perceived as threats by whites. I view this artifact to have even a greater function, that of a coming together as one people for a common political agenda against their perception (real or unreal), of a crisis of injustice against black citizens in general. There was a tone that people of color are never able to receive equal or fair treatment by whites in this nation. This was a new rallying cry to once again create a movement for that purpose. The actions of the crowd in attendance at this rally would support that Reverend Sharpton’s message achieved its goal.

Why I chose this artifact:

     I was a young teenager, living less than two blocks away from the Watts Riots in Los Angeles during the 1960’s racial tension period. After the eruption of fires that we could see from our second story windows, and hearing rioters shooting and shouting in the streets, while destroying homes, burning cars and buildings, my family packed us all up and we left town in fear for our life. After hearing the Reverend Al Sharpton’s speech on March 22, 2012, I felt that his dialogue could lead to similar eruptions if his rhetoric was interrupted by his audience incorrectly, or possibly that was his intention.

References

Foss, S. K. (2009). Rhetorical criticism, exploration and practice. (4th ed.). Long Grove: Waveland     Pr Inc.