The Hate U Give Rhetorical Analysis

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African-American CEO of Re:power, Karundi Williams once said, “It’s bad and it’s sad, but it’s not shocking that we’re still being killed at a higher rate.” This quote expresses the harm of a dangerous stereotype categorized under black people. This leads to an important question: Are stereotypes harmful? There are reasonable arguments both beneficial and detrimental to this topic, however, stereotypes are tremendously harmful to society because they perpetuate violence in communities and create unreasonable social images for people of color. Stereotyping people based on skin color can consequently produce violence in a society. They put people of color in dangerous circumstances. In her novel, The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas showcases the discriminatory …show more content…

Hands up, where I can see them.”’(Thomas 22) This quote shows how African-Americans receive no leeway when dealing with any sort of law enforcement. Unnecessary force is used immediately. In the same manner, in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s article, “Don't understand the protests? What you're seeing is people pushed to the edge” He says, “And how those Minneapolis cops claimed Floyd was resisting arrest but a store’s video showed he wasn’t. And how the cop on Floyd’s neck wasn’t an enraged redneck stereotype, but a sworn officer who looked calm and entitled and devoid of pity.” This quote displays how a white cop stereotyped an African-American as a violent person. He was instantly accused of resisting due to his skin color, which further led to his death. Situations like these highlight the fact that stereotypes often enforce discrimination, which leads to harmful events. Quick, targeted assumptions are created based on one's race, where one party is negatively affected. Ultimately, both of these quotes display the dangerous environment that stereotypes create in a society. Furthermore, stereotypes create unreasonable social names based on skin …show more content…

It doesn’t matter if he’s suspected of doing it. The phrase ‘Drug dealer’ is louder than ‘suspected’ ever will be.”(Thomas 113) This quote shows how people of color are stereotyped so easily due to the color of their skin. They are often judged inaccurately. Similarly, in Van Jones’s article, “What Do You Call White Rioters? Anything But Thugs,” in which he explains white people rioting compared to black people, he states how “‘When white people riot because their baseball team won, no one throws around the word ‘thugs.’ But when black people respond to physical violence with protests against inanimate objects, that word is all you hear.”’ This quote expresses the unjustified social name that people of color receive. They are judged unfairly compared to the privileged white people, which decreases their social status tremendously. Though one of these examples deals with drug dealing, and the other rioting, they both show how people of color instantly receive inaccurate social images. They are judged solely on their appearance. In the end, conceding to one's stereotype biases casts a negative image that lowers their social status. Admittedly, some may argue that stereotypes are beneficial to society, but that’s an incorrect and flawed

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