Rhetorical Analysis Of Leonard Pitts Challenged By The Hope Of My Elders

Throughout America, a multitude of newspapers and authors write about and discuss the various topics that interest people today. Ranging from sports to political editorials and news coverage, each writer carries their own personal style for how they convey their message to their audience. Leonard Pitts, a writer for the Miami Herald, was born in California and currently writes editorials on recent topics. An African-American left-winger, Pitts forms his writing with colloquial language in his editorials such as: “Challenged by The Hope of my Elders,” “Torture Might Work, but That’s not The Issue,” and “Don’t Lower The Bar on Education Standards.” In “Challenged by The Hope of My Elders,” Pitts writes about the black lives matter campaign and

Comparisons are effective in his writing style because he is able to compare the subject to something that his audience is more familiar with or may be affected by. This will draw in the audience's emotions and also make them think about his opinions because it will cause the audience to think of Pitts opinions in a different light. In his education editorial, Pitts compares basketball to the difference between expectations for whites and blacks in school. (“Don’t Lower The Bar”) Comparing them, Pitts states that it would be absurd to give whites a handicap in basketball just as it is absurd to give blacks a handicap with school work. Comparing these two elements, Pitts makes his readers consider handicaps in school by a new aspect and also appeals to people who know and play basketball. For example, many people who watch basketball will agree that it is dumb for whites to receive a handicap despite the fact that more black basketball players have been playing recently. Pitts comparison of comparing drunk driving and torture is an effective method in his torture article. In this, Pitts says that if the government were to make drunk driving a capital crime it would end drunk driving and no one would do it. (“Torture May Work”) However, they wouldn’t do this because it would be immoral. This would be similar to torture because Pitts says torture is immoral and shouldn’t be used. Using this comparison, Pitts relates to people who have driven while drunk or who have been affected by drunk driving when he compares this. Pitts also uses a comparison in his article, “Challenged By The Hope Of My Elders” when he compares himself and fighting for black rights to previous black rights activists who have fought for black rights and who have been segregated and treated unequally. Comparing himself to these people many others will relate to how the fight that previous black rights