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Essays on issues with the stand your ground law
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The law review article I chose was written by a Law Professor regarding police claims on self-defense. The author talks about Zimmerman’s murder trial and how the judge refused to allow prosecution to argue that the neighborhood watch volunteer racially profiled Martin. Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder for shooting a 17-year-old, Trayvon Martin. The state of Florida filed an affidavit of probable cause stating that Zimmerman profiled and confronted Martin and shot him to death when Martin didn’t commit any crimes. Zimmerman claims he shot Martin in self-defense.
In Robert Kennedy’s speech on the death of Martin Luther, Kennedy uses ethos and pathos to convince the audience that the death of Martin Luther King Jr. is not something that should cause hate and violence. Instead, Kennedy tries to convince them that King’s death should be used as something to unite the people. Kennedy uses ethos when he informs the audience that he had experienced similar feelings when his brother, John Kennedy, was also killed by a white man. This shows the audience that he knows what they are feeling and that he genuinely feels sad about Martin’s death. He also uses ethos when tells the audience that he is “filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act”.
On February 26, 2012, a 17 year old boy named Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a man named George Zimmerman. George was found not guilty in July of 2013. President Obama spoke upon the ruling of this case. “It could have been me 35 years ago” stated Obama. Most African Americans went through being followed in the stores, hearing the doors on the car lock as they passed by, or had a woman move her purse closer to her as they walked in the elevator.
It’s been 4 years since the killing of Trayvon Martin and the verdict still hasn’t ended the debate about his death. Many supporters believe that his murder was a cowardly act by one George Zimmerman who shot and killed Martin. It was the night of February 26 when Martin went to a nearby 7-eleven to buy himself a snack. Wearing the hood of his grey shirt over his head, he paid the store clerk and left. He was walking back to his father’s house, where he was staying after he had been suspended from school.
Trayvon Martin the Second Emmett Till Trayvon Martin’s death was a tragedy. Emmett Till’s death was a tragedy. These deaths have similarities to the extreme. The biggest difference is the 56 years which separate them.
In this PBS documentary, The murder of Emmett Till, Stan Nelson illustrates a racial hardship and crime against the African-American community. Lynching is a mob of Caucasian people that hang in African-American in a public place to show white supremacy. Emmett Tills murder trial was completely tried in a completely biased courtroom and there was even circumstantial evidence which places JW Millam and Roy Bryant kidnapping young Emmett Till, whose body was later found. I believe that in this murder and trial we see truly how far hatred and racism can rise by just one simple act. The murder of Emmett Till caused an uprise in the civil rights movement.
Johnnie Cochran's closing argument during the O.J Simpson uses all three rhetorical appeals to try and convince the jury of O.J Simpson's innocence. To begin with, he uses Ethos by bring up a quote by Frederick Douglas that discusses the equality of all men and implying that if they vote O.J Simpson guilty it would be unethical because of his race. Next he appeals to pathos by using the statement "We haven't reached this goal yet, but certainly in this great county of ours, we're trying" to give a sense of both disappointment and pride first by showing that we haven't overcome discrimination yet but then that we still live in a great place that is striving.
powerfully utilizes the likes of pathos and logos to appeal to the reasons of the general intended audience of the average white males and females, in addition to other government officials who have power and control the destiny over the public. Pathos, which appeals to the emotions of the reader, is utilized on many different occasions throughout “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” as King vividly describes the suffering and emotional distress that the African American population was facing in America at that time. For instance, King invokes the use of pathos by recounting the emotional toll taken on him and his people, exclaiming, “When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she cannot go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television... you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos, ‘Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?’... then you will understand why we find it emotion for the common white man, and to display that the pain the African American community endured on a daily basis did not go unfelt, and that every harsh and explicit word uttered towards them carries a heavy
In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” pathos was used throughout the letter. King gives his audience a chance to experience what is happening to him and his fellow African Americans by inserting emotional events. Such as the treatment from the Birmingham police when they “pushed and cursed young Negro females and slapped and kicked young Negro males.” ( King’s letter page 3) Yet after the mistreatment from the Birmingham police, King still didn’t insult them and preached to keep peacefully protest for their rights.
Aldous Huxley once stated that “There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.” The determination of one’s innocence is heavily influenced by perception. There are numerous aspects that can be held against one when determining if one is the victim or the villain. As displayed throughout the novel Brother by David Chariandy and the documentary Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story, Francis, and Trayvon encounter debilitating obstacles due to preconceived notions of masculinity. These obstacles become the determining factors in their innocence.
The Brock Turner case is a very controversial case that spark debate on the subject of white male privilege and the abuse of power. People speculate that the only reason Turner received such a minimal sentence is because his parents are affluent and influential, due to their success and status as a white professional. He was found guilty and the judge gave him a very lenient sentence. Many people saw this as unfair to the girl that was raped and to everyone else impacted by this man 's crime. The judge 's name is Aaron Persky.
This story makes me think about OJ Simpson, he was acquitted for the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, but a year later he lost a civil suit to their parents which essentially made him guilty of the murders. But long before either jury had a chance to vote on his innocence or guilt he was found guilty in the “court” of public opinion. The public opinion vote will haunt Simpson through his entire life, people will always see him as guilty and think he got away with murder. Much like OJ, the chief will have the “court” of public opinion to contend with the rest of his career in Pamlico county.
During the era of the civil rights movements in the 60s, among the segregation, racism, and injustice against the blacks, Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial to deliver one of the greatest public speeches for freedom in that decade. In Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech he effectively uses ethos, diction and powerful metaphors to express the brutality endured by African American people. Yet his most important method of reaching his audience, and conveying his enduring message of equality and freedom for the whole nation was his appeal to pathos. With these devices, King was able to move thousands of hearts and inspire the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Opening his speech Martin Luther King Jr. sets up his credibility with his use of ethos, referring to the Declaration of Independence saying, “This note was a promise that all men… would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life.”
The editorial “The Stain of Racism in New York’s Prisons” by The Editorial Board is about the racial profiling that has been happening in some prisons in New York. Rhetoric is a persuading tool to make your claims and evidence stronger in an argument, using ethos logos and pathos, which is used throughout the editorial. Ethos is when the speaker gives background of themselves so they can be more credible. Logos is when you give facts of your claim. Pathos is used by using words with connotative or emotional meaning to them.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an important figure in gaining civil rights throughout the 1960’s and he’s very deserving of that title as seen in both his “I Have a Dream” speech and his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” letter. In both of these writings Dr. King uses logos - logical persuasion - and pathos - emotional appeal - to change the opinions of people who were for segregation and against civil rights. Although King was arrested for a nonviolent protest, he still found a way to justify his actions with the use of logos and pathos. MLK uses both ways to gain the attention and agreement of the audience but, he uses pathos not just more, but in a more relatable way in order to appeal to his audience.
