Page 41 - 2022-IdeasArg-SE-1e

114 Unit 2 ■ Appealing to an Audience

Unifying Don’t Understand the Protests? What You’re Rhetorical Effects of
Idea Seeing Is People Pushed to the Edge Choices Choices
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racial You’re not wrong—but you’re not right, either. antithesis wrong/right
justice The black community is used to the institutional perception
racism inherent in education, the justice
system and jobs. And even though we do all the
conventional things to raise public and political
awareness—write articulate and insightful pieces
in the Atlantic, explain the continued devastation evidence to support claim:
on CNN, support candidates who promise change justice is not
—the needle hardly budges. served

racial But COVID-19 has been slamming the
justice consequences of all that home as we die at a
significantly higher rate than whites, are the
first to lose our jobs, and watch helplessly as
Republicans try to keep us from voting. Just as
the slimy underbelly of institutional racism is
being exposed, it feels like hunting season is comparison emotional appeal —
open on blacks. If there was any doubt, President oppression
Trump’s recent tweets confirm the national
zeitgeist as he calls protesters “thugs” and
looters fair game to be shot.

racial Yes, protests often are used as an excuse for some
justice to take advantage, just as when fans celebrating
a hometown sports team championship burn
cars and destroy storefronts. I don’t want to see
stores looted or even buildings burn. But African
Americans have been living in a burning building
for many years, choking on the smoke as the sensory emotional appeal—
flames burn closer and closer. Racism in America details suffocating/
is like dust in the air. It seems invisible—even if choking on racism
you’re choking on it—until you let the sun in.
Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep
shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning
it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant,
because it’s always still in the air.

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