Police Reform rhetorical analysis
In the article "The Myth about Police Reform". A brief background of cases where the suspect was called by cops are presented. Coates continuously calls upon on the actions taken by police officers and how he believes the situations should have not been handled the way they were. Coates quotes from the 1953 book The Quest for Community by Robert Nisbet in order to explain the difference between authority and power. Authority is based on the consent of the government while power is based on externalities and force. With these definitions in mind, he discusses how throughout history, the African-American community have undergone police power and not authority. Ending the article, Coates then makes the claim that
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Phrases that he uses in order to give anger are for example; “There are many problems”, “one interrogates”, “this time of heightened concern”, “Do we really want?”, and many more of phrases and questions with the same tone. The pathos used is not very persuasive because of the lack of evidence, and the lack of back ground information. For the most part, Coates uses pathos as his supporting evidence. We can see this in the beginning of the article when he makes the audience question recent police actions as just. He continues by mentioning the names of suspects whom were killed by the police with a little bit of background information to make the audience feel anger towards the situations. Coates asks the questions; “Was Walter Scott’s malfunctioning third-brake light really worth a police encounter?... Do we really want people trained to fight crime dealing with someone who’s ceased taking medications?” Coates makes the claim that experts should handle the situations not only the police, as they are specially trained to handle a suicidal man or a mentally ill one. Coates questions the audience again on whether if sending the police to handle the situations that led to the death of the victims was the right call. Situations should be handled by experts in the field, and that the police are “only women and men who specialize …show more content…
African Americans throughout most of their history have lived under the power of the crime-justice system according to Coates and not it’s authority. “Nisbet, distinguishes between “power” and “authority” … authority… is a matter of relationships, allegiances, and association… Power…is “external” and “based” upon force.” Although one can imply as to why he makes the argument, he does not provide any evidence or reasoning to back up his claim. One can imply from Coates saying “Power exist where allegiances have decayed or never existed at all. “Power rises,” writes Nesbit,”only when authority breaks down.” That he believes our current system is broken and thus has caused power to arise even though he never makes this claim. He continues his argument by critiquing officers as being citizens too and thus would also lie like any other person about a case like in the case of Micheal Brown, and how politicians defend officers and categories them as “most of them are good”. No evidence to these statements are presented to support his claim. His last use of logos is questioning the expertise of officers under certain circumstances. He makes the police officer fight crime. They are not health professionals, case-workers or teachers and they should not handle situations that require expertise in those fields. He reasoning behind this is that “why
“...Much of the recent crime increase threatens the vitality of America’s cities–and thousands of lives–it is not, in itself, the greatest danger in today’s war on cops. The greatest danger lies, rather, in the delegitimation of law and order itself’ (Mac Donald). In the book “The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe,” published in the year of 2016, author Heather Mac Donald provides credible evidence to expand on her viewpoint of our country’s current criminal crisis. In addition to “The War on Cops, Mac Donald has written two other books. Her works “Are Cops Racist?”
Addressing police brutality must be done with empathy for and awareness of the plight of the African-American community. Historically speaking, there has not been a period wherein the African-American community was not inhibited by institutionalized barriers. American enslavement provided the foundation for later oppressive provisions that are especially prevalent within inner-city, predominantly Black communities, which, incidentally, many of the prominent instances of police brutality have taken place. Political regimes like the “war on drugs,” “school to prison pipeline,” and mass incarceration criminalize and dehumanize the African-American community, and thus affect the collective mindset of the population. I believe that an imperative first step that has not been taken is acknowledging the effects these may have on the Black community.
Coates want the American to be aware of America’s history and the racial oppression and how the mistreat black populations has played in making America the country it is today. However America has claimed otherwise, that the black populations did not play a crucial role in America. Ta-Nehisi Coates contends, that the leads
“Circumspect Police Ends the Drop in Crime?” This debate topic speaks about police being less proactive, because of vitriol, and causing an increase in crime rates. This debate topic is not directly related to the book, Ghettoside, but falls into the same bracket. The debate talks about the police becoming less involved because of denunciation, and rates of crimes increasing because of that. Ghettoside talks about the black-on-black homicide rates going up, one reason, because of the ignorance of the police.
Sandy Banks is bothered by the injustice of police officers towards possible innocent victims. Because it seems like if officers rely on shooting at people as their safest option, Banks demands better training to help solve this issue. Police officers being caught on camera doesn 't changes the fact that the victim will become wounded, or pass away, yet, in most cases officers are not held accountable for the insensible act. In her article, "Horrific videos aren 't solving police shootings, but better training might" Banks asks for better training for police officers, as she developed strong pathos with details, great logos with logical solutions and consequences, but a weak ethos by not mentioning her credentials and the other side of the story.
Many people forget that African Americans in this country have been enslaved for longer than they have been free. Coates reminds his son to not forget their important history and that they will continuously struggle for freedom over their own bodies. They must learn to live within a black body. These struggles can be seen in the racial profiling and brutality among police officers in cases such as Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and countless of others. He goes on to describe his childhood and how fear was the root of black existence.
In this article, Coates provides great examples of the strengths of his writing. He uses profound language and vocabulary to further explain the claims he makes while providing a detailed picture for the audience. He uses the primary source of the racism that Clyde Ross experienced. Coates focuses on sharing Ross’s story in this article displaying the true horror African Americans endured during this time. Because Coates does a great job of describing the situation Clyde Ross found himself in, it is difficult to argue against his point that reparations should be made.
This altercation started when Coates became bored and disruptive in the class where it led to law enforcement being present to have more control of the situation (Coates 2008, pg. 141). Although Coates was a very bright intellectual, it is obvious to see that he was not present when in class but was very engaged with the world of books and music, outside of the classroom. Young Coates was not aware of the power of “knowledge” alone. He did not understand that without “conscious” of what is to be fought for. His mind was more focus on the lust for making his mark that he had not considered society’s view of a black male and where the origin of fear
Analyzing “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates The past is the past, but sometimes the past comes back and bites us on the butt. In Ta-Nehisi Coates’s article, “The Case for Reparations”, Coates describes the wrongful acts done by white supremacists towards African-Americans. Throughout his article, Coates provides strong logos and pathos to his argument. The one issue that he fails to discuss is ethos or credibility towards his argument.
This report is showing light to the communities’ response to police brutality particularly in the black communities and also their encounters with police officers. Police brutality is physical violence and great cruelty demonstrated by a police officer. Police brutality and misconduct have existed for many decades and it even has been broadcasted in news stories over America, but nothing has changed. It has happened predominantly to African Americans in lower-income states. Police officers are given slaps on the wrist for taking a life or injuring an innocent person.
In the essay titled “Police Brutality”, Danna Hernandez uses rhetorical devices to declare that police brutality is dreadful. She utilizes anecdotes to support her claim, pathos to persuade the audience to agree with her argument by producing an emotional response, and imagery to illustrate her hardships caused by police brutality. Danna does this in order to make the general public realize that police brutality is a significant issue that should not be treated as a trend. Danna Hernandez uses anecdote to support her argument. The vast majority of the essay is an anecdote that tells of the tragic death of her son due to unjustified gun usage by a police officer(which constitutes as police brutality) and the emotional consequences that followed.
Will society ever view African-Americans as people and not as less than? In “Chokehold” Paul Butler will discuss this very idea depth. Butler provides history on why and how society sees African-American men as violent thugs. Butler goes on to explain in detail how the chokehold plays a part in oppressing African-American men and how to avoid the ramifications of the Chokehold, if possible.
There is a misunderstanding with how police deal with intense situations. The public don’t understand that we only have a split second to make a decision in an intense situation like this. The media uses negative news to attract more attention. People don’t get all the facts, they only know one side of the story. He gives the example of the incident
Police officer’s reputations are reduced and they lose the public’s trust as protectors. Specifically, society talks about the act of a white police officer savagely attacking a black citizen. The black population was enraged by this act and formed activist movements to prevent any police brutality brought upon them. As the controversy rise, society starts picking a side to defend. In this case, the nation is split into two sides.
Police Brutality is an ongoing problem and existent concern in the United States and should be resolved immediately. Law enforcement must function as an element that consists of organized and civilized officers. The presence of police brutality is becoming more of an issue as society grows. The problem posed by the illegal exercise of police power is an ongoing reality for individuals of a disfavored race, class, or sexual orientation. Police brutality must be stopped so that police do not forget who they are serving – not themselves, but the public.