Kimberle talks about the intersection of racism and sexism and how this leads to the discrimination of women. In her TED talk she stated, “As a consequence reporters don’t lead with them, policymakers don’t think about them, and politicians aren’t encouraged or demanded that they speak to them.” She is saying how whenever a man dies, it is all over the news and it is made public. However, when I woman dies by the cops, politicians don’t make it public and are discriminated against. She later states that this problem is caused by social justices and how they don’t pay attention to the problems women are facing. In addition, she states, “Without frames that allow us to see how social problems impact all the members of a targeted group, many will fall through the cracks of our movements, left to suffer virtual isolation.” By saying she thought of a term called intersectionality and how the problems of sexism and racism are overlapping and they create multiple levels of social injustice. In addition, she states, “The real problem, though, that the judge was not willing to acknowledge was what Emma was actually trying to say, that the African-American that were hired, usually for industrial jobs, maintenance jobs, were all men. And the women that were hired, usually for secretarial or front-office work, were all white. Only if the court was able to see how these policies came together would he be able to see the double discrimination that Emma DeGraffenreid was facing.” Emma was being discriminated because she wasn’t a man or a white woman and couldn’t get the job.

In Bell Hooks article, “Moving Beyond Pain”, she talks about her first response to Beyonce’s visual album, Lemonade. According to Hooks, she states, “Lemonade is intent; its purpose is to seduce, celebrate, and delight—to challenge the ongoing present day devaluation and dehumanization of the black female body . . . This in and of itself is no small feat—it shifts the gaze of white mainstream culture. It challenges us all to look anew, to radically revision how we see the black female body”. The album made the black body more noticeable and changed the norm in society that they have no power. One thing I found interesting is that Hooks states that male and female violence is the same and both are to not be condoned. She states, “Contrary to misguided notions of gender equality, women do not and will not seize power and create self-love and self-esteem through violent acts. Female violence is no more liberatory than male violence. And when violence is made to look sexy and eroticized, as in the Lemonade sexy-dress street scene, it does not serve to undercut the prevailing cultural sentiment that it is acceptable to use violence to reinforce domination, especially in relations between men and women. Violence does not create positive change”. I completely agree with this because if people want gender equality, women have to treat the same way as men. In order to have equality, violence amongst each gender isn’t a way to attain it.

In Christopher Lebron’s article, “‘Black Panther’ Is Not The Movie We Deserve” he discussed many different points about Black Panther. For instance, Black Panther is a movie about black empowerment in which the only redeemed blacks were African nobles. One thing that I found surprising was women’s stance in this movie. According to Lebron, he states, “They are the film’s brightest spot: the black women of Wakandan descent are uniformly independent, strong, courageous, brilliant, inventive, resourceful, and ethically determined . . . Thus, the movie deserves praise for its gender politics—save in relation to the only black American woman”. In Black Panther, all genders are in a sense equal in power because both genders are being recognized. In black panther, Lebron states how there was racism in the movie because a white man became the hero in the movie all about black empowerment. According to Lebron, he states, “Even in a comic-book movie, black American men are relegated to the lowest rung of political regard. So low that the sole white leading character in the movie, the CIA operative Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), gets to be a hero who helps save Wakanda. A white man who trades in secrets and deception is given a better turn than a black man whose father was murdered by his own family and who is left by family and nation to languish in poverty. That’s racist”. A white man that wasn’t very trustworthy was given a better role than a black man who suffered his way to the top in a way to empower the black race.

In James Baldwin’s  “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” illustrates how language is not just used for communication but it can also be used to classify someone from a different background or race. For instance, Baldwin states, “Language, incontestably, reveals the speaker” (1). Baldwin is trying to say that as soon as someone says something, the listener is already making an assumption about the speaker’s race, ethnicity, etc. In addition, he states, “A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey” (2). Black English came as a means for African Americans to understand each other during their times of prejudice. To add on, he states, “There was a moment, in time, and in this place, when my brother, or my mother, or my father, or my sister, had to convey to me, for example, the danger in which I was standing from the white man standing just behind me, and to convey this with a speed, and in a language, that the white man could not possibly understand, and that, indeed, he cannot understand, until today”(2).  Black English was used amongst African American’s and only them.

One thing I found interesting was “It may very well be that both the child, and his elder, have concluded that they have nothing whatever to learn from the people of a country that has managed to learn so little” (3).  My interpretation of this quote is that Black English does not seem very interesting to the people of America as they seem to think it is appropriate in an academic setting,

In Lloyd Bitzer’s article, “The Rhetorical Situation”, illustrates the circumstances in which a rhetorical situation is created. He states, “In other
words, there are circumstances of this or that kind of structure which are recognized as ethical, dangerous, or embarrassing” (1). These are some examples that he mentions that create such rhetorical situations. In addition, another main point he states is, “Let us regard rhetorical situation as a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which I strongly invites utterance; this invited utterance participates naturally in the situation, is in many instances necessary to the completion of situational activity, and by means of its participation with situation obtains its meaning and its rhetorical character” (5). This means that these circumstances create these situations where people create an audience.

One thing I found interesting was that ”Normally, the inauguration of a President of the United States demands an address which speaks to the nation’s purposes, the central national and international problems, the unity of contesting parties; it demands speech style marked by dignity. What is evidenced on this occasion is the power of situation to constrain a fitting response. One might say metaphorically that every situation prescribes its
fitting response; the rhetor may or may not read the prescription accurately” (11). There needs to be a situation that invites a fitting response to make it rhetorical. In addition Bitzer states, “Rhetorical discourse is called into existence by situation; the situation which the rhetor perceives amounts to an. invitation to create and present discourse. The clearest instances of rhetorical speaking and writing are strongly invited” (9).