Discrimination, racism, and prejudice are unfortunately represented today through many events, from the racial tension in Ferguson, to the racist comments made by presidential candidate Donald Trump. Barack Obama, in 2008, spoke of these problems in his speech “A More Perfect Union,” which was in response to Reverend Wright’s racist comments. During this speech he shared what he envisions on America's future. Similarly, Maya Angelou, in her essay “Graduation”, wrote about her racial troubles as she grew up. Through the uses of powerful syntax and emotionally appealing anecdotes, Obama and Angelou express similar views of America that reflect a need for a unified community to address unequal opportunities. Obama's purpose in his speech …show more content…
Obama states, “Segregate schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them …. helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students” (Obama 654). Obama explains how segregated schools still exist and how they are deficient. By using syntax, Obama effectively portrays the achievement gap between white and black students. He argues that it's because of segregated schools, which create unequal opportunity. Furthermore Angelou spoke of what the children in her neighborhoods were expected to be when she states, “We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that we aspired to was farcical and presumptuous” (Angelou 29). Angelou blames this on segregated school similar to Obama. She goes further to blame this on the white schools saying that they established this mentality into her community. Through the use of parallelism, Angelou portrays the unequal opportunity. Similar to Obama, Angelou believes it is because of the school systems. Both of these quotes represent the very similar view on America that Obama and Angelou share. The view that the quotes represent is inequality in education. It displays how opportunity affects their expectations, how the achievement gap between white and black students is still not diminished, and how segregated schools are inferior
Roy Peter Clark, author of “A More Perfect Union”: Why It Worked, takes a stance on President Barack Obama’s speech while analyzing it. President Barack Obama delivered a speech titled “A More Perfect Union.” His speech focused on the prominent issue of racism in America. In this article, Clark talks about President Obama’s known power and brilliance. Clark makes references and comparisons to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and W.EB. DuBois. “A More Perfect Union” features writing techniques that makes the message more defined and effective. President Obama utilizes four closely related rhetorical strategies. Clark broadly explains the purpose of the rhetorical strategies. Allusion, parallelism, two-ness, and autobiography helped to shape President Obama’s speech that that was meant to create
For as long as I can remember, racial injustice has been the topic of discussion amongst the American nation. A nation commercializing itself as being free and having equality for all, however, one questions how this is true when every other day on the news we hear about the injustices and discriminations of one race over another. Eula Biss published an essay called “White Debt” which unveils her thoughts on discrimination and what she believes white Americans owe, the debt they owe, to a dark past that essentially provided what is out there today. Ta-Nehisi Coates published “Between the World and Me,” offering his perspective about “the Dream” that Americans want, the fear that he faced being black growing up and that black bodies are what
There are always certain social problems that take place in our communities. Some of us may not experience it first hand, but all of us should acknowledge the fact that our greatest social problem is still looming to this day. In Michelle Alexander’s work, Drug War Nightmare: How We Created a Massive Racial Caste System in America, she talks about the social problem of inequality and discrimination in America. From being an African American to being a law professor and experience as a clerk for a Supreme Court justice, it can give a reader a sense of comfort knowing that she knows what she is talking about. Alexander uses several methods of using logical and emotional appeals to the readers so they can get a glimpse of this national issue.
America have a long history of black’s relationship with their fellow white citizens, there’s two authors that dedicated their whole life, fighting for equality for blacks in America. – Audre Lorde and Brent Staples. They both devoted their professional careers outlying their opinions, on how to reduce the hatred towards blacks and other colored. From their contributions they left a huge impression on many academic studies and Americans about the lack of awareness, on race issues that are towards African-American. There’s been countless, of critical evidence that these two prolific writers will always be synonymous to writing great academic papers, after reading and learning about their life experience, from their memoirs.
The second is the concern over segregation and the effect it has on society. Mr. Kozol provides his own socially conscious and very informative view of the issues facing the children and educators in this poverty ravaged neighborhood. Those forces controlling public schools, Kozol points out, are the same ones perpetuating inequity and suffering elsewhere; pedagogic styles and shapes may change, but the basic parameters and purposes remain the same: desensitization, selective information, predetermined "options," indoctrination. In theory, the decision should have meant the end of school segregation, but in fact its legacy has proven far more muddled. While the principle of affirmative action under the trendy code word ''diversity'' has brought unparalleled integration into higher education, the military and corporate America, the sort of local school districts that Brown supposedly addressed have rarely become meaningfully integrated. In some respects, the black poor are more hopelessly concentrated in failing urban schools than ever, cut off not only from whites but from the flourishing black middle class. Kozol describes schools run almost like factories or prisons in grim detail. According to Kozol, US Schools are quite quickly becoming functionally segregated. Kozol lists the demographics of a slew of public schools in the states, named after prominent civil rights activists, whose classrooms are upwards of 97% black and Hispanic — in some cases despite being in neighborhoods that are predominantly white. It has been over 50 years since Brown vs. Board of Education. It is sad to read about the state of things today.
Racism is more than just blatant comments and police brutality. It is also found in the subtle things, like the lack of opportunities in education. Graduation by Maya Angelou and I Just Wanna Be Average by Mike Rose both address this issue of opportunities and race. In St. Louis, Missouri, Maya Angelou went to an all-black school during the 1930s and 40s, while Mike Rose is a second generation Italian immigrant in Los Angeles in the 1950s. Both wrote about their experiences with systemic racism in education. Both authors are given low expectations and have no power over their futures, which shows how systemic racism sets up a self-fulfilling prophecy of underachievement.
Maya Angelou lived through a time where she was discriminated against for not only her race but also her gender. In her poem “Still I Rise” Angelou sarcastically talks about how no matter what is thrown at her she will rise above it and she will do it with resilience and confidence. Her poem discusses racism and sexism and gives minorities and women a sense of hope to overcome and endure both of those things. Angelou’s self-assurance in the poem makes you believe that you too can overcome whatever obstacle. Although this poem was intended for blacks, and women, and specifically black women, the poem helps build up strong and courageous people no matter what race or gender you are. Maya Angelou in “Still I Rise” uses both pathos and ethos to
Throughout life graduation, or the advancement to the next distinct level of growth, is sometimes acknowledged with the pomp and circumstance of the grand commencement ceremony, but many times the graduation is as whisper soft and natural as taking a breath. In the moving autobiographical essay, "The Graduation," Maya Angelou effectively applies three rhetorical strategies - an expressive voice, illustrative comparison and contrast, and flowing sentences bursting with vivid simile and delightful imagery - to examine the personal growth of humans caught in the adversity of racial discrimination.
concerns racial equality in America. The myth of the “Melting Pot” is a farce within American society, which hinders Americans from facing societal equality issues at hand. Only when America decides to face the truth, that society is not equal, and delve into the reasons why such equality is a dream instead of reality. Will society be able to tackle suc...
In his speech, Obama says,” Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven 't fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today 's black and white students.” Obama is saying that because of the effects of separation in the past, it still affects children. By having parents who have little interest in an education since they did not receive one. Lindsey Cook, a writer for U.S News, says “Black parents, most of whom are less educated than their white counterparts, don’t expect their children to attain as much education as white parents expect. Lower expectations become self-fulfilling prophecies, contributing to lower expectations from the student, less-positive attitudes toward school, fewer out-of-school learning opportunities and less parent-child communication about school.” This shows that because of 50 years ago, by having parents who did not receive a good education, are more likely to not provide their children a good education. The article Cook wrote continues to show how black students do poorer in all aspects than their white counterparts. With these issues since childhood, it is harder for blacks to get into a top college and a high paying job. Therefore there is a need to
Through only the words of Donleavy, Maya’s personal identity changes, from embracing the day she graduates in the world to ruing it, saying, “It’s awful to be a Negro and have no control over my life, it was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and have charges brought against my color with no chance of defense.” (Angelo, 184) This turns her overall perspective of life to a positive outlook ta a negative one just through the speech of one
In “A More Perfect Union”, Obama asked the audience to view themselves through the eyes of the others (Terrill 371). Instead of imposing a moral superiority of one side of the audience like Lincoln did or telling the audience to ignore the diversity, Obama asked the people to embrace their differences and acknowledge the others. In referring to the perspective of black people, he said, “A lack of economic opportunity among black men and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family contributed to the erosion of black families...” Meanwhile, to show how some white people might feel, he narrated, “...when they're told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudice, resentment builds over time.” By juxtaposing two different perspectives, Obama tried to ask for agreement that people’s anxiety over racial problems is
Racism continues to be prevalent in society. Just because someone’s skin color is different from the white society we live in, it does not mean they are any different. Racism is present today in many races. Whether it be African Americans, Mexicans, or Native Americans, they are all effected by inequality. These races are not the only ones that we are confronted with racism in today’s society. While the struggle of racial inequality continues to be problematic, literature helps to make readers known of the struggles, hardships, and conflict within racial inequality. In Teju Cole’s “A Piece of the Wall”, Sherman Alexie’s “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”, and Flannery O’Conner’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” all discuss racial inequality
What if the social situation in America was the same as it was back in the 1960’s? Black people and white people were segregated, and the white people were treated much better. Maya Angelou and Barack Obama both lived through this, but they both believe that we have to come together if people want to accomplish anything at all. Barack Obama and Maya Angelou both express the idea of togetherness and unity in similar and different ways.
Maya Angelou, an honorary poet and civil rights activist most known for being a prominent voice of African American culture, expresses the views of the oppressed in two different ways as society, her life, and culture changes. Growing up she had a troubled life, her parents’ divorce, being raped, dropping out of school, having a child, racism, and “losing” her voice ( CITATION ). All of these factors played a huge role in Angelou’s writing throughout her career. The variance in her views of the oppressed in correlation with her life with are best expressed in two of her very famous poems “Caged Bird” and “Still I Rise”. Although, these poems both are a voice for the oppressed, one serves as the voice of the oppressed verses those of the free and the other discusses overcoming the oppression.