One of the on-going assignments that you will be asked to do in AP Language is to follow the opinion page of The New York Times. Here are a couple of the better opinion pieces that I've read on a week of absolutely heartbreaking news: "Divided by Race, United by Pain" by Frank Bruni and "A Week from Hell" by Charles Blow. Offer your thoughts on their thoughts. Or, do you notice any rhetorical devices they employed? Or, quote something that resonates with you in some way and comment upon it. Or, link to another piece you'd like your classmates to read as well.
9 Comments
Mr. Shaw
7/10/2016 07:41:57 am
Here's another one: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160710_In_Dallas_and_Philly__seeking_hope_in_darkness.html?mobi=true
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Jacob VanderRoest
7/12/2016 01:33:05 pm
I believe that the solutions that these articles present are just and logical and I agree with them overall. Obviously increased violence will only fester more violence; as a result, nonviolence would more effectively solve this unfortunate issue than violence would. "Divided by Race, United by Pain" says, "Let's be honorable men and women and sit down at a table and say, 'How can we not let this happen again?' and be sincere in our hearts." Similarly, "A Week from Hell" declares, "The higher calling - the harder trial - is the belief in the ultimate moral justice and the inevitable victory of righteousness over wrong." These solutions, in my opinion, would effectively curb this pressing issue. Just like the women's suffrage movement of the early 1900s and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, a nonviolent movement against police brutality and racial prejudice would be more effective than fighting fire with fire. Overall, the main message of nonviolence in each article makes perfect sense to me and, in my opinion, is the just and correct solution. The rhetorical device of appealing to pathos was utilized in each article, specifically in the authors' diction. "Divided by Race, United by Pain" describes these killings as a "cycle of bloodshed" and that the attacks are "heart-rending." Similarly, "A Week from Hell" claims that that week "tore at the very fiber of our nation" and that "there is so much loss and pain." While these claims are certainly true, the rhetoric device of appealing to pathos is used since the authors are trying to evoke an emotional reaction from the audience by including words such as "bloodshed," "loss," and "pain." As a result, the reader is persuaded to side behind the authors since they are being emotionally convinced that the killings are completely terrible (which is absolutely true). Overall, the appeal to pathos was a very prominent rhetorical device used by both authors.
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Hanna Bronz
7/12/2016 06:51:38 pm
One of the things I noticed right off the bat in "A Week From Hell" was that the author noted the race of each group involved in the shootings. The fact that we have to say that a black man killed a white man or that a white man killed a black man is the source of this problem. Present day America is still seeing in color. We can't get past the color of people's skin. As unfortunate as it is no matter what, when a white police officer shoots a white victim, the media feed back is significantly less. Yes, there is uncalled for police brutality happening in our county right now but it is happening to all races. We just don't hear about it the same way that we do when it happens between a white officer and a black victim. Something that reasonated with me in Blow's article was this quote: "Too often, aggressive policing began to feel like oppressive policing. Relationships between communities and cops became strained. A small number of criminals poisoned police beliefs about whole communities, and a small number of dishonorable officers poisoned communities’ beliefs about entire police forces. And then, too often the unimaginable happened and someone ended up dead at the hands of the police." The distance between the community and police did not happen over night. It obviously started somewhere and the fear that people have of the police is probably not completely irrational. However, when fear turns into violence from either side, it is wrong and we need to decide a way to fix what is happening to America's people.
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Isabella LeClaire
7/13/2016 07:53:04 am
I found that the writers of both of these articles used pathos to prove their point: Discrimination is too big of a problem. One strong example of this in "Divided By Race, United By Pain" is when the article discussed four year old Dae'Anna, a child about to graduate from preschool, who would be sad that Castile would not be there to support her at her graduation. This is because he was shot by a police officer. Writing about a sad, young child was supposed to make the reader sad and really appeal to emotions. The author of "A Week From Hell" used his own personal experience in his writing as pathos. He talked about how his daughter was scared from the Dallas shootings. Another example of effective pathos from that piece is when the author said "We didn't arrive in this place overnight and we won't move on from it overnight." This is sad but very true. Making readers realise this was a strategy to make them want to end this problem once and for all even more. Both authors, Bruni and Blow, used the rhetorical device, pathos, to show readers how big of a problem discrimination with violence is. This could make some readers as passionate about this conflict as they are.
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Chloe Cassidy
7/15/2016 07:54:38 am
Overall, I agree with both of the article's arguments and information. However, the fact that we still need to specify that it was a black man that shot a white man and vice versa is extremely upsetting. Adding to Hanna's comment, America is still seeing color. People should realize that we shouldn't judge others by their skin color; but by their thoughts and actions. "Our profession is hurting," said by Dallas police chief David Brown of the "Divided by Race" article; and I couldn't agree more. I think this is a really unfortunate time for the police force. However, are there people in the police force who will shoot at a person because of their skin color? Yes, because as long as we are roaming the earth; there will always be people like this. There are bad people out there, there always has been and always will be. Both of the articles end on a note of wanting "peace" and "harmony" to come out of this battle.
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Brooke McKenna
7/19/2016 07:28:29 pm
"This is a time when countries, institutions, movements an even nations are tested" says Charles M. Blow from the article "A Week From Hell". "Separated, divided: those words again. They're our curse right now. Must they be our fate?" says Frank Bruni in "Divided by Race, United by Pain". Out of the many things that those two said in their articles, these are what seemed to be the most important; they seem to hold the most meaning in the end. Through what has happened in the shootings and segregation to the thick line that keeps us separated, it all boils down to one fact: this is a test for us humans. Can we overcome racial difference and reach harmony? Can we be civil and put down violence? Can we be willing to forgive a few bad apples in a whole tree of great ones? It's questions like these that those two quotes embody. The first is pretty obvious, it is the questions. All that has been happening is a test and it will take us to be active and forgive, understanding and grudge-less to achieve. As for the second quote, it's the answer as to how well we are dong on the test; we're failing. We are continuously being separated and divided and all it takes is one bad event to happen to deepen that rift. There's a quote from the movie Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind that seems to fit this situation well. "Too much fire gives birth to nothing... fire turns a forest to ash in one day. Water and wind takes 100 years to nurture a forest. We prefer the ways of the water and wind...". In the situation that the articles are talking about, the forest is the good reputation of the races and the police, the fire is the violent act and the wind and water are what it takes to heal that over. One violent act can destroy a peaceful world but in order to heal that, it will take time. Some people can't forgive, however, and thus set aflame another fire and hurt more people. It is those people who stunt our growth to peace and upset the country. It is those people who strengthen the words separated and divided and it is those people who are making us fail this test. While I can't say how to stop those people or change their minds, all I can say is that we need to put away the fire and allow for the wind and water to heal this over. Only then can we hope to achieve the peace that we all seek and end this senseless violence.
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Sydnie Avery
7/23/2016 03:07:08 pm
“A small number of criminals poisoned police beliefs about whole communities, and a small number of dishonorable officers poisoned communities’ beliefs about entire police forces.”
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Rachael Roberts
8/12/2016 07:07:56 am
I agree with the overall message that both articles were trying to send. In Frank Bruni's "Divided by Race", he writes "It ignored how peacefully the protest in Dallas began and how calmly it proceeded up until shots rang out. Black and white stood together. Civilians and cops stood together. Those cops were there precisely because they’d been briefed on the demonstration and brought into its planning. They were a collaborative presence, not an enemy one." And Malik Aziz, a deputy chief in Dallas, stated “We had police officers taking pictures with protesters, protecting them, guarding them, making sure they was getting from one point to another." I think this separation of races has an effect on police brutality. The media does not show the peaceful side of protests, as this one in Dallas began as just that. The media only shows the demeaning parts of protests, the ones that degrade society and send a negative image to Americans. Reporters are missing the positive parts of these protests, the things that should be covered on the news. I believe that this could potentially change the way society looks at not only the issues of police brutality, but the separation of races. Frank Bruni also states in the article, "Predictably, there was a recurrence of talk after the killings of five police officers in Dallas late Thursday night that this was the fruit and fault of the Black Lives Matter movement and that cries of police misconduct equal a bounty on police lives." He keys in specifically on Black Lives Matter and that the police brutality means that there should be an equal response, that police lives matter too. But what about everyone else's lives? Don't all lives matter? Regardless of your gender, race, sexuality, profession... We all matter. Charles Blow's "A Week from Hell" sends a more powerful message than Frank Bruni's "Divided by Race" in my opinion. It keys in more on the fear of these events, and the reason that they happen. His most useful evidence to me is a paragraph explaining how this came about: "Our American “ghettos” were created by policy and design. These areas of concentrated poverty became fertile ground for crime and violence. Municipalities used heavy police forces to try to cap that violence. Too often, aggressive policing began to feel like oppressive policing. Relationships between communities and cops became strained. A small number of criminals poisoned police beliefs about whole communities, and a small number of dishonorable officers poisoned communities’ beliefs about entire police forces. And then, too often the unimaginable happened and someone ended up dead at the hands of the police." I agree with him on this. The relationship between communities and cops diminished. Most of the people committing these hateful acts are not criminals, and in my eyes, it all goes back to the separation of races and inequality.
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Caitlin Demerest
8/18/2016 10:22:39 am
With the threat of terrorism so alive in the people's hearts today, the last thing America needed was a war against police. But, as fate may have it, that's what we got. As pointed out in Charles Blow’s article “A Week from Hell” this didn't happen overnight. Obviously this has been an issue for a long time, the thin line of justice vs. hatred that cops seem to walk on everyday in the eyes of the public. “So many — too many — Americans now seem to be living with an ambient terror that someone is somehow targeting them.” People in America are so paranoid that police are out to get them, many don’t feel safe. Don’t get me wrong, I strongly agree that “Black Lives Matter” because they do, and not to sound like a racist bigot, but all lives matter as well. No I’m not talking about all white people, but rather the police. There has recently been a movement of “Blue Lives Matter” in reference to the police officers who have been shot in protest. Comments like “was upset at white people” and “wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.” are becoming too common of a reason for going and killing someone who works to protect you. Yes black lives matter and no, not all the incidences with the cops should have ended in death, but the officers are also there to keep others safe and a lot of the time the shootings we see on the news, the victim was breaking a law in some way. Does that mean the incident should have resulted in death? Absolutely not. But the media takes that one little piece of tragic information and runs with it. They fail to realize the victim was at fault for breaking the law and that's why the officers got involved. Instead they spin it around so it sounds like an officer drove past and shot a random person because of their skin color. Police and people of color alike should have the same respect given to them. It’s not okay for an officer to shoot at someone even if they are breaking a law; without just cause. In some cases, they had no such cause and I understand why people are upset, I am too. But categorizing all officers into “racist bigots” isn’t okay for the media either. “A Week from Hell” does a good job of not covering either side of the debate, but rather the side effect of the people living through it. It’s powerful to hear the voice of an outsider and shows that no matter what campaign or what side you agree with, innocent people are dying at the hands of internal hatred due to a stereotype, not the person they are shooting.
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