Nur Ali
DP-2
Learning Alliance International Lahore Pakistan
Abraham Lincoln reminded us that a house divided against itself cannot stand. When
divisions have threatened to bring our house down, somehow we have always moved
together to shore it up. My fellow Americans, our house is the greatest democracy in all
human history. And with all its racial and ethnic diversity, it has beaten the odds of human
history. But we know that divisions remain, and we still have work to do. [applause]
[20] The two worlds we see now each contain both truth and distortion. Both black and
white Americans must face this, for honesty is the only gateway to the many acts of
reconciliation that will unite our worlds at last into one America.
[21] White America must understand and acknowledge the roots of black pain. It began with
unequal treatment, first in law and later in fact. African Americans indeed have lived too
long with a justice system that in too many cases has been and continues to be less than
just. [applause] The record of abuses extends from lynchings and trumped up charges to
false arrests and police brutality. The tragedies of Emmett Till and Rodney King are bloody
markers on the very same road.
[22] Still today, too many of our police officers play by the rules of the bad old days. It is
beyond wrong when law-abiding black parents have to tell their law-abiding children to fear
the police whose salaries are paid by their own taxes. [applause]
[23] And blacks are right to think something is terribly wrong when African American men
are many times more likely to be victims of homicide than any other group in this country,
when there are more African American men in our corrections system than in our colleges,
when almost one in three African American men in their twenties are either in jail, on parole,
or otherwise under the supervision of the criminal justice system–nearly one in three. And
that is a disproportionate percentage in comparison to the percentage of blacks who use
drugs in our society. Now, I would like every white person here and in America to take a
moment to think how he or she would feel if one in three white men were in similar
Circumstances.
[24] And there is still unacceptable economic disparity between blacks and whites. It is so
fashionable to talk today about African Americans as if they have been some sort of
protected class. Many whites think blacks are getting more than their fair share in terms of
jobs and promotions. That is not true. [applause] That is not true. [applause]
[25] The truth is that African Americans still make on average about 60 percent of what
white people do, that more than half of African American children live in poverty. And at the
very time our young Americans need access to college more than ever before, black college
enrollment is dropping in America.
[26] On the other hand, blacks must understand and acknowledge the roots of white fear in
America. There is a legitimate fear of the violence that is too prevalent in our urban areas;
and often, by experience or at least what people see on the news at night, violence for
Those white people too often have a black face.
[27] It isn’t racist for a parent to pull his or her child close when walking through a high-crime
neighborhood or to wish to stay away from neighborhoods where innocent children can be
shot in school or standing at bus stops by thugs driving by with assault weapons or toting
handguns like old west desperadoes. [applause]
[28] It isn’t racist for parents to recoil in disgust when they read about a national survey of
gang members saying that two-thirds of them feel justified in shooting someone simply for
showing them disrespect. It isn’t racist for whites to say they don’t understand why people
put up with gangs on the corner or in the projects or with drugs being sold in the schools or
in the open. It’s not racist for whites to assert that the culture of welfare dependency, out-of-
wedlock pregnancy, and absent fatherhood cannot be broken by social programs unless
There is first more personal responsibility. [applause]
[29] The great potential for this march today, beyond the black community, is that whites will
come to see a larger truth–that blacks share their fears and embrace their convictions,
openly assert that without changes in the black community and within individuals, real
change for our society will not come.
[30] This march could remind white people that most black people share their old-fashioned
American values–[applause]–for most black Americans still do work hard, care for their
families, pay their taxes, and obey the law, often under circumstances which are far more
difficult than those their white counterparts face. [applause]
[31] Imagine how you would feel if you were a young parent in your 20s with a young child
living in a housing project, working somewhere for $5 an hour with no health insurance,
passing every day people on the street selling drugs, making 100 times what you make.
Those people are the real heroes of America today, and we should recognize that. [loud
applause and cheers]
[32] And white people too often forget that they are not immune to the problems black
Americans face–crime, drugs, domestic abuse, and teen pregnancy. They are too prevalent
among whites as well, and some of those problems are growing faster in our white
population than in our minority population. [applause]
[33] So we all have a stake in solving these common problems together. It is therefore
wrong for white Americans to do what they have done too often simply to move further away
from the problems and support policies that will only make them worse. [applause]
[34] Finally, both sides seem to fear deep down inside that they’ll never quite be able to see
each other as more than enemy faces, all of whom carry at least a sliver of bigotry in their
hearts. Differences of opinion rooted in different experiences are healthy, indeed essential,
for democracies. But differences so great and so rooted in race threaten to divide the house
Mr. Lincoln gave his life to save. As Dr. King said,
“We must learn to live together as
brothers, or we will perish as fools.
” [applause]
[35] Recognizing one another’s real grievances is only the first step. We must all take
responsibility for ourselves, our conduct, and our attitudes. America, we must clean our
house of racism.
Video:
https://youtu.be/9f8liieRepk
click on the link to watch the video 👇
These two pieces of information talk about the struggles that people face in their
community due to injustice in the form of racism. One of the pieces of information is a video and
the second is a text in the form of a speech.
The text, which is a speech, explored what Abraham Lincoln had to say about racism
and how he tries to stop slavery by teaching the majority of the American population, the whites,
about what challenges the African Americans have to face in their regular lives. The speech was
made by Dr. King who addressed people about the injustice faced by black americans. The text
uses different examples to explain and justify the brutality that the black people in America have
to face. The text states,
“Still today, too many of our police officers play by the rules of the bad
old days. It is beyond wrong when law-abiding black parents have to tell their law-abiding
children to fear the police whose salaries are paid by their own taxes”
. This is just an example of
the brutality that the text explores.
The text is leaning more towards pathos and ethos, meaning, the speech is trying to
emotionally convince the audience that the black people have been through a lot and that their
struggle must end. The text is also trying to convey the message of justice through ethics and
how it is very wrong for the black americans to go through what they have been a victim of. The
text states,
““We must learn to live together as brothers, or we will perish as fools”
. When
looking at the text, we can see that it states “applause” after nearly every paragraph. This shows
us how the text was targeted towards an audience and how the pathos was very effective in the
case of conveying the issues of the black americans. This is an effective technique used,
because It shows how the audience was able to connect with what was being told to them.
Moreover, the second piece of information that we have is a video. The video is from the
movie titled,
“Freedom Writers”’ which discusses how children from different backgrounds and
ethnicities have been living in a community which is very hard because there is a lot of violence
there. In the video, the student talks about how he and his mother got evicted from their home
because they were unable to pay rent and how he thought he would be laughed at because he
didn’t have any new clothes or a new haircut. The student then goes on to talk about how his
teacher helped him get some hope during his tough times. He mentions how even though he
had no place to live, that English class was like home to him.
The video uses pathos just like the text for the audience to sympathize with the people
who are struggling in their lives. The way he delivers his line at the end nearly tearing up shows
how hard that summer was for him. The student also says that his mothers tears hit him “Like a
bullet” when they got evicted because that added onto the struggles in their lives. His choice of
words in the script of the movie make you feel saddened for the character, hence, through the
usage of pathos the movie makes you feel for their struggle, just like the text and how those
numerous examples make you feel bad for the black people in america.
Though the text explores the theme of ethics, the video does not, as the video heavily
dives into pathos. This happens when we see a close up shot of the teacher and the other
students who have sad looks on their faces the more he reads his journal entry. One thing the
text and the video have in common is that they both are like speeches, almost. In both of the
pieces of information we have two people addressing a crowd about their struggles. The effect
that their speeches have on people is both different however. On one hand, we have the text
which shows how people are applauding the more Dr. King speaks. But on the other hand, we
have sad looks of sympathy the more the student speaks. The way the video and the text
convey the message is the same, however, the video is more straightforward with the reaction
of the people, as we can see the sadness on their faces. The text could have described the
applause more so we could have seen the proper effect of the pathos on the audience.
The two pieces of information, the text and video explore the same theme, which is of
struggle. The techniques that they use are more in common, in my opinion. In both the mediums
we have a person addressing a crowd about their struggles. The differing factor however is the
reaction from the crowd. Both the mediums use pathos to emotionally connect with the
audience, which is very effective as we have two very strong reactions from both the pieces of
information. The text, however, also uses ethos to describe the injustice of racism.
