Rhetorical Analysis of Robert Bullard’s How Race Affected the Federal Government’s Response to Katrina

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Dr. Robert Bullard is a researcher, activist and author who pioneered a branch of social science known as Environmental Justice. His efforts have been to fight toxic dumping in minority communities by bringing wide attention to this issue. He has been referred to as the "Father of Environmental Justice". (Bullard 1) This speech, “How Race Affected the Federal Government’s Response to Katrina” uses Hurricane Katrina and several other disasters to highlight inequities toward the black communities at all phases of disaster response. There is special emphasis on the negative effects of these inequities as deliberate racial discrimination against black communities by all levels of government. Although Dr. Bullard engages the listener well with emotionally charged phrases, it will be shown that he fails to establish that discrimination alone, and not other inherent complexities of disaster response, accounts for all of his claims.

Dr. Bullard effectively establishes ethos by his well-known reputation as the definitive expert concerning this subject and by referring to studies and personal research of the events he describes throughout the speech. He further establishes ethos by using first-person narrative throughout the speech, such as in his opening sentence, “We’ve documented at least a dozen hurricanes in the South and how African-American communities have fared….” (Faigley, and Selzer 328), and following shortly with, “…we looked at various hurricanes, how and what happened and the damage and what the response was.” (Faigley, and Selzer 328) also, “We have investigated this whole idea of who provides assistance in the initial hours of disasters.“ (Faigley, and Selzer 330) His most effective use of ethos is his personal narrativ...

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...Cited

Avakian, Bob. "The 2005 International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration of the United States." Revolution-Voice of the Revolutioinary Communist Party”, USA. 08 aug 2005: 1. Web. 14 Sep. 2011. .

Bullard, Robert. "Robert D. Bullard-Biography." Robert D. Bullard-Father of Environmental Justice. 2011: 1. Web. 14 Sep. 2011. .

"EPA Milestones." EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 8 JUL 2011. Web. 23 Sep 2011. .

Faigley, Lester, and Jack Selzer. Good Reasons With Contemporary Arguments. 4th. New York: Longman, 2009. 328. Print. .

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