jenncy mejia


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In the video “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” Kimberle Crenshaw explains why you should be knowledgeable about intersectionality and why it is important. In the beginning she mentioned many male victims of police brutality and almost all of the audience recognized them. She then proceeds to mention  female victims of police brutality and a staggering amount of people did not recognize the women. The concept she explains in her talk is Intersectionality, an idea that identifies how social and political discrimination, and gender, sexual orientation etc. are connected. To bring across her point she mentioned the case of an African-American woman Emma DeGraffenreid. DeGraffenreid sued a manufacturing company on the claim that they did not allow her a position in the company due to her race and gender. The judge dismissed her case since the particular company had black people in the company all of which were men, and women all of which were white. She then expands on how this case relates to intersectionality and what should be done about it. At this point, her talk gets emotional when she talks about the say her name movement while showing pictures of female victims of police brutality. With the video she really showed how big the conflict is. Lastly she shows a video of several women while encouraging the listeners to say their names in support of the movement. I believe Crenshaw did a good job using pathos as she used emotion with her visuals. I feel she had ethos as well because she demonstrated her knowledge in the topic.

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moving beyond pain

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In “moving beyond pain” the author, Bell Hooks, discusses the positives and negatives of Beyonce’s album lemonade. Hooks claim that the purpose of lemonade is to: “seduce, celebrate, and delight—to challenge the ongoing present day devaluation and dehumanization of the black female body”. This is clearly shown in the album when hooks says, “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”. This proves Hooks’s claim about the purpose of lemonade and how it is meant to change the way black women are looked at and thought about. The author however talks about a song in which she was betrayed, “he was my man alright, but he done me wrong”, then goes on to say, “[her father] gives her a rifle warning her about men, she does not shoot her man. She dons a magnificently designed golden yellow gown, boldly struts through the street with baseball bat in hand, randomly smashing cars”. Although this shows empowerment in a way, I personally disagree with the method because it can be easily misinterpreted with the promotion of violence especially because stereo-typically people tend to associate blacks as being more violent. I feel like there could have been a much better way than fury and violence to depict empowerment. one point that confused me in the article is where she states, “No matter how hard women in relationships with patriarchal men work for change, forgive, and reconcile, men must do the work of inner and outer transformation if emotional violence against black females is to end”. I feel like Hooks is making it seem like only black women experience emotional violence in relationships when in reality many women not just black women and even in some cases men feel emotional violence in relationships.

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‘Black Panther’ Is Not the Movie We Deserve

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I have not personally seen the movie “Black Panther”, but it seems that it is racist to black Americans according to Christopher Lebron. Lebron explains in his article that although the movie is unique for its black star power, it actually shows devaluation of black American men. There is a black American character in the movie who despises the way blacks are treated in American so he returns to wakanda to challenge the throne and start a revolution to change the way things are. However according to Lebron this character is demonized, he states, ” he comes across as the black thug from Oakland hell bent on killing for killing’s sake”. He is basically saying that instead of being seen as a hero or just a good person in general he is demonized simply because he is a black American man. Another opinion he states is that the movie demonizes black Americans to shine a good light on African nobility. Lebron states, ”  The fight takes a shocking turn: T’Challa lands a fatal blow to Killmonger, lodging a spear in his chest. As the movie uplifts the African noble at the expense of the black American man, every crass principle of modern black respectability politics is upheld”. He is basically trying to saying they purposely used a black American as the antagonist to make the african nobels come out as heroes.

A quote that stood out to me was “As the movie uplifts the African noble at the expense of the black American man, every crass principle of modern black respectability politics is upheld“. This stood out to me because just reading his article without seeing the movie I disagree with it. I do not think the directors purpose was to demonize black Americans in any way. I actually agree with the choice of the wakandans in the movie, although killmonger had good intentions he lacked rationality. Had his revolution taken place the entire stability of the nation could have fallen. Their hidden fortune and power would have become known by the world, their very source of wealth and power “vibranium” would have been discovered, among other problems. In my personal opinion I think that it was a regular plot with no intention to demonize blacks anywhere, the wakandans had a very regular and rational reaction to killmongers choices.

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If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is? By James Baldwin

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In James Baldwin’s “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”, Baldwin goes on to explain the importance if launguage and how it defines you as a person and people should be allowed to have their own language because language is something that makes a person who they are. This is evident when he says, “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate.” He is basically saying different languages are created by different groups of people or even stem from other languages in order for them to express themselves because they do not want to live in a world in which they can not communicate or express themselves. I actually agree with this because it is clear that everyone likes to be connected and expressing themselves. This is especially evident now in the time of the internet because you see everyone sharing everything about themselves and commenting on other people’s posts. I also agree with when Baldwin says “It goes without saying, then, that language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power”. Here he is basically saying that language is at the center of everything, because you need language for power and language is what is used to influence anyone from people in the street to government officials. This goes back to the fact that different groups create their own languages. A common language or languages is what holds a group together it’s why the slaves did not have the power to rebel for so long, they were weak as a group because they did not share the core of what gives a group their power, a common language. A common language is the base of power in any group, nation, or just people in general. This is why all people and groups should be allowed their own language and why black English is indeed a language.

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“The rethorical situation” – Lloyd Bitzer

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In “The Rhetorical Situation” by Lloyd F. Bitzer, he defines what a rhetorical situation is and the components that make up a rhetorical situation. Bitzer mentions how rhetorical situations is defined by “the context in which speakers or writers create rhetorical discourse”(Bitzer 1). One of Bitz’s main arguments is that there must be a situation for rhetors to come up with arguments. He provides an example of this by talking about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, this is consider to be a rhetorical situation in which it influences social actions. Bitz mentions the three main components that make up a rhetorical situation which are exigence, audience, and constraints. He states how “exigence is rhetorical when it is capable of positive modification and when positive modification requires discourse or can be assisted by discourse”(Bitzer 7). This shows how exigence demands a proper response and it can be fixed by using rhetoric. The audience is an important factor because they are the ones who listen, interpret, and hopefully influence to enact a change. They are in between rhetoric and putting things into action. To add on, a rhetorical situation contain constraints which involves people, events, objects, and relations. These constraints have an effect on the audience and rhetor, when the orator enters the situation, the orator can have “ personal character, his logical proofs, and his style”(Bitzer 8), this can create a disconnection with the audience and rhetor.

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