In the video “The Urgency of Intersectionality,” Kimberle Crenshaw discusses the intersection of racism and sexism which often overlap in order to create different levels of social problems. She presents a speech where she describes the urgency of this issue. African American women are discriminated on a basis of race and sex. In order to solve this problem, we must recognize this issue. We must broaden the frame of discrimination to include women as Crenshaw describes this as a “framing issue.”

An interesting example she presents is the case of Emma DeGraffenried. She was double discriminated on a basis of race and sex when she was rejected by a local car manufacturing plant. The court quickly dismissed her case as they claim the plant hired both African Americans and women. However, the court failed to recognize how all African Americans working in the plant were men and all the women working in the plant were white. DeGraffenreid was quickly rejected because of the fact that she is both a women and an African American. In order to solve this issue, American society must recognize this issue and broaden its frame of discrimination to include African American women.

While delivering her speech Crenshaw uses slides to show images of African American women that have been victims of police brutality. This was a really effective action. By doing this, she indicates the relevance of this topic. Women are being murdered by police because they are being discriminated by race and sex. It shows the inhumanity of this issue. African American women are being killed and injured over the cruel actions of police and it is a shame that American society fails to have any knowledge about this issue and these women. In her presentation she makes eye contact with her audience, hand gestures, and has facial and vocal expression which all enhance her communication skills and effectiveness of her delivery.

Finally, she also interacts with her audience by conducting a survey in order to have an understanding of her audience’ knowledge of these women that are being murdered by the police. She also shows a video that includes some of the many women that were killed by the police and clips of police brutality against women in which she asked her audience to yell out the names of these women. She did this in order to bear witness to them, to let their names be heard and to being them to the light. SAY HER NAME!

In Moving Beyond Pain, the author analyzes the music video of Lemonade by Beyonce. The author mentions that in Lemonade the female black body is poised as royalty, as they are the center of attention in the music video. However, Beyonce who is the star actually appears in casual clothing and hoodie. This is very unusual because it most standard music videos the artist is the main subject and its often praised by others around him/her. This video also shows the black female sisterhood that “resists invisibility, that refuses to be silent.” According to the author, this challenges us to change our views on how we see the black female body. The author implies that Lemonade fails at changing conventional sexist constructions of black female identity because it depicts black females as always being the victims. It shows that the women is always the victim of a man’s betrayal in while she always responds with rage. I agree with the author that this is not always the case. Black females do not always respond with violence or emotional violence and anger and it it very stereotypical for Lemonade to portray black females in this manner. The author of this text criticizes Beyonce for her representation of black females.

A quote that I most definitely agree with is when the author states “Contrary is misguided notions of gender equality, women do not and will not seize power and create self-love and self-esteem through violent acts . . . Violence does not create positive change” (page 5). This quote implies how if women experience betrayal from a man she DOES NOT have to express her feeling s or boost up her self-esteem through violence and anger. I do understand that many times anger does occur is such frustrating moments but it does not have to lead to violence or revenge. A woman does not have to use violence to lover herself and gain confidence.

Although I have never seen the movie ‘Black Panther,’ after reading this article by Christopher Lebron, this movie sounds very offensive. He describes how the movie can be misinterpreted as promoting black empowerment; however, instead it promotes “racist narratives” and the “devaluation of black American men.” This is so shocking to me because everyone I spoke to about this movie found it so empowering and often even yelled, proudly “Wakanda” or “Black Panther” as a symbol of great honor for the movie. Lebron clearly shows how in the movie, black American men are represented as drug dealers, dangerous people, gangsters, and selfish. Not only that, but in this movie black American men are depicted as constantly fighting and working against each other instead of working together. This is very stereotypical and racist. Often African Americans are portrayed as being violent which is not the case at all. Black men are very much capable of working together and it is a shame that a movie that was initially created to empower the black community fails to correctly portray them.

A  very significant quote that stood out to me was at the end of page five and continued on page six where Lebron states “Killmonger, however, will not appear in another movie. He does not get a second chance. His black life did not matter even in a world of flying cars and miracle medicine.” The fact that ‘Black Panther’ portrayed black lives in this manner is truly appalling. African Americans are constantly facing discrimination, racism, and brutality on a daily basis in the real world. I would expect that this movie would depict African Americans in a positive way and will show that black lives do matter but instead it showed the exact opposite. It showed that even in an imaginary world black lives do not matter, that violence is always the answers, and that black men are nothing but gangsters. This is horrible. It is insane how the existence of African Americans is continued to be hindered and now in this movie it is being used to sell movies. It seems like in today’s society mistreats  what is considered the “minority” for entertainment. This is not something black American men deserve. This movie is not something the black community deserves.

In “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What is?”, James Baldwin discusses the importance of language. He discusses that every person has a common language in which they articulate. Through these variety of languages, people express different realities and experiences they must go through. He shows this by writing “Frenchman living in Paris speaks a subtly and crucially different language than from that of a man living in Marseilles; neither sounds very much like a man living in Quebec; and they would all have great difficulty in comprehending what a man from Guadeloupe, or Martinique is saying . . .”(Baldwin 1). Baldwin also mentions that people must accept other’s achievements and identity which can be done by accepting one’s language including black language. Your language says a  lot about the type of person of who you are. He mentions how we, as humans, must not penalize people of color for creating their own language the shows the reality and struggles they have endures throughout history. “Black English is the creation of the black diaspora” (Baldwin 3). Black English represents black history and their struggles they have faced ever since they came to the United States chained to each other. Lastly, Baldwin mention how “. . .white people in America never had any interest in education black people, except as this could serve white purposes . . . A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled”(Baldwin 3). This is very important because white people that despise people of color refuse to truly teach people of color, to help them become the best person they can be just because these type of people do not see the potential of a black child and that is something these children cannot afford.

James Baldwin, a brilliant writer, states “He cannot afford to understand it. This understanding would reveal to him too much about himself, and smash that mirror before which he has been frozen too long”(Baldwin 3). I found this very interesting and in fact, true. By saying this Baldwin is implying that white people refuse to understand black language for a reason. This reason is because white people were the ones that caused this language to form. They forced people of color to struggle, to lose their native languages and adapt to horrific, unsafe environment they must and continue to experience. White people cannot afford to neither accept nor understand black language because it will force them to accept and view who they really are as a person. It will allow them to understand their history as well; the history of plundering and denigrating the black body and that is something they refuse to accept. However, I believe the past will catch up with these racist, white people and sooner or later they will have to accept not only black language but the reality of their own history.

In “The Rhetorical Situation” by Lloyd F. Bitzer, he discusses what a rhetorical situation is and the elements of a rhetorical situation. He states that a rhetorical situation “comes into existence for the sake of something beyond itself; it functions ultimately to produce action or change in the world; it performs some task”(Bitzer 3-4). This shows how a rhetorical situation is a situation that can changed depending on the audience’s response to the situation. Bitzer mentions the three key elements of a rhetorical situation which are exigence, audience, and constraints. Bitzer states that “exigence is an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be”(Bitzer 6). Exigence is only rhetorical “if it is capable of positive modification” (Bitzer 7). Bitzer states that the audience is very important because when influenced they are the ones that motivate the change produced by the rhetorical situation. Additionally, a rhetorical situation always includes constraints which is “made up of persons, events, objects, and relations which are parts of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence” (Bitzer 8). These constraints may include the audience’s beliefs and traditions.

One idea that really interested me was when Bitzer stated “In our real world, however, rhetorical exigences abound; the world really invites change – change conceived and effected by human agents who quite properly address mediating audience” (Bitzer 13). This is an idea that I completely agree with because indeed, the world does invite and motivate change. Our real world is not perfect at all and there is always positive change or modification that must be done. This is why our audience is very important in a rhetorical situation. Often, one person cannot cause a big change on their own which is where an audience that can make a change or motivate change is very important. Situations that include a specific issue such as police brutality, motivate a specific audience to make a positive modification to abolish or minimize this problem. Overall, this statement in “The Rhetorical Situation” really caught my eye because of the fact that it makes me realize how important positive modification is and how the world is not perfect at all and always needs some sort of change.

When Bitzer claimed “Each reader probably can recall a specific time and place when there was an opportunity to speak on some urgent matter, and after the opportunity was gone he created a private thought the speech he should have uttered earlier in the situation” (Bitzer 2), I related to this a lot. This usually happens to me when the teacher creates a discussion about a specific issue occurring in today’s society. I always share how I feel about the issue however, when the discussion is over I always find myself having more opinions, more facts; overall, having more to say about the specific issue. I always regret not mentioning something during the discussion and I am sure I am not the only one.