Black Lives Matter Controversy Essay – Free Essay Example

In an op-ed article, “Beyond ‘Black Lives Matter,’” which appeared in The New York Times dated February 9, 2015, Charles Blow writes about the Black Lives Matter movement and how they are still working on building relationships between police communities. In his article, Blow insists that though “the protests following the grand jury decisions in the police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner on Staten Island have largely died down”, the Black Lives Matter movement has continued to elevate the idea of inequity in policing as it relates to minority communities even though they are no longer on the front page of the newspaper. Later in the article, Blow talks about how President Obama, the White House, and the Ferguson Police Department all have made changes to build trust between the community and law enforcement. He ends his article by challenging his readers to continue the fight for building trust between police and the community. In his attempt to persuade his intended audience of the lack of trust in the community and the need to remain engaged in the fight for just and equitable policing, Blow effectively employs rhetorical strategies by utilizing an appeal to ethos to build his credibility, an appeal to logos by citing reputable facts and people, and lastly an appeal to pathos through appealing to his readers’ emotions and passions.

Blow’s intended audience is anyone who cares about their community’s safety, specifically the African-American community. Although today black Americans stand a long way from slavery and segregation there are still, undoubtedly, many elements of social inequality and oppression towards minorities, especially black people, in our present-day community. Blow states “These past years have carried many tragedies to our communities and our nation that exemplify this misconception, specifically speaking the deaths of multiple black civilians like Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and others in addition to the fact that they were killed by police officers who were later not indicted with any charges.” Grief, anger, and confusion are some of the many emotions stirred by these events. These emotions, driven by oppression towards people of color, triggered what became known as the Black Lives Matter movement: a nationwide movement fighting for social equality between races. Blow explains that the Black Lives Matter movement’s organizers and protestors “have elevated the idea of inequity in policing as it relates to minority communities,” but since it has been a while, the movement has died down. He wants to engage this audience in the movement once more because he believes that there wasn’t a true reconciliation between law enforcement and their communities, so his audience must actively demand that movement in the right direction continue to be made until trust is restored.

To be persuasive, Blow establishes his credibility by speaking on behalf of the African-American community. Blow is an African American journalist, who writes about social justice. He uses the word ‘we’ to remind his readers that he is an African American who cares about his community. He asks his audience, ‘Where do we go from here?’ to display that he also has been deeply affected by the death of the black men who were killed by officers who weren’t indicted.

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In addition to establishing his authority to speak on this subject, Blow attempts to display the logic of his stance on the lack of trust between communities and officers by referencing information concerning former President Obama and the White House. For example, when talking about “encouraging news” that has occurred in this realm he cites that “The White House has promoted the use of body cameras”. He also states, “Obama signed an executive order establishing the Task Force on 21st Century Policing,” which tries to build relationships between law enforcement and the communities they protect. He uses these resources and information to prove that even the powerful people in our country also believe there is no trust.

Throughout the essay, Blow also seeks to draw out the emotions of the audience. He uses the deaths of three black men to appeal to the emotions of the audience. For example, Blow talks about the “Protests following the grand jury decisions in the police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner on Staten Island” which likely triggers anger in the audience, reminding them of the emotions they felt when they heard these officers were acquitted. Also, he includes visual statistics that show the percentage of racial communities that police officers were told to use excessive force on, further appealing to the emotions and passions of his audience by reminding them of the expansive effects of inequitable policing on the greater African-American community.

In Blow’s argument, both the organization and the use of rhetorical moves are effective. He begins with his belief on a controversial topic, “The issue of police-community relations was raised but not solved. The memory of mistrust still wafts through the air like the smell of rot being carried by the breeze.” Blow successfully uses a simile to spark the readers’ imagination to argue about the lack of trust between police and the communities that they protect. Then he cites the former president and the White House to back his stance. When Black Lives Matter started the movements to make a change, Blow communicated that they started them because they also believed there was a lack of trust. Proceeding to the end he presents facts that support everything that he said and Blows challenges his readers “to remain vigilant” in the process of building trust with law enforcers.

Though Blow begins the essay by effectively persuading his readers of the lack of trust between officers and the community through the appeals of pathos and ethos, he uses facts and statistics at the end, where he most needs to drive home his argument. After reading the stats and facts readers can see that the problem that Blow points out exists. Blow concludes his essay with facts and statistics to prove to all the readers that he isn’t making all this up, but he has facts to back his stance, thus solidifying his argument with an appeal to logos.

Work Cited

1. Blow, Charles. “Beyond ‘Black Lives Matter’.” The New York Times, 9 Feb. 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/opinion/charles-blow-beyond-black-lives-matter.html?searchResultPosition=10.