Discrimination Essay: Stand Up for Your Rights Analyses

There have been so many books written and movies made about segregation and the unfair treatment that African American have faced also, there have been many African Americans that have protested how they were and are still being treated. Many of them risked and still risk their lives doing this. I have always applauded them for being so brave and standing up for their rights. This essay intends to explore and rhetorically analyze multimedia arguments based on the photograph of U.S Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos are the main authors in the photograph. The two had participated in the summer Olympics whereby they won a gold medal and bronze medal respectively. The two athletes were African-American. They were also icons in the Olympics, where they excelled in the competitions that they participated in. Their credibility is high because they fully understood what goes on in the Olympics and the challenges they may face for being African-American athletes. Raising their hands, which are covered in black gloves, was a move of showing the power of the black people despite the bias they faced. They also intended to advocate for human rights. The rate of discrimination in the United States was really high in 1968, where people of color were even denied from participating in sports.

Audience

The audience to which the picture is directed are the Olympics committee, human rights organizations, and all departments of the government in general. Moreover, those people whose human rights have been infringed due to having a black color or belonging to another race apart from the White Americans. The picture targets those African-Americans who have undergone discrimination. The image has an inspirational message to them to show them that they can be anything they want to be in America and they can make it in life despite being black. It is intended to awaken them from their slumber and encourage them to stand and fight for their human rights. The black glove is metaphorical in that it portrays success for someone in the minority group (Lakoff & Mark, 24-23). Those people who discriminate upon the minority group and even provide means by which the hate is spread are excluded from the audience.

Text Type

The text falls under the type of picture advertisement. The norms prevailing in this genre is that there is no speaking and that the action depicted should be clear and portray the intended message without any hindrances. The speakers in this context have followed the rules. The dress code should speak volumes and this case Tommie has a black ribbon on his neck which shows the pride of being African-American. They have even added some effects like the black hand gloves to deliver the message clearly (Jeong, 58-59). Another nom that should be followed is that the speaker should not go against the set rules in an effort to have their information delivered. In this text, the two respected the national anthem when it was being sung.

The Goal

The goal of this text is to express the pride and the power of an African-American as well. This intends to persuade people to advocate for the human rights of the African-Americans because they are worthy despite the hatred projected to them for being black. Moreover, it intends to make people aware of the discrimination that happens in the sporting sector. The black gloves on the hands of the two athletes reflect the black color of this minority group.  Competing goals usually undermine the effectiveness of persuasion because they could conflict each other which would lead to distortion of the message.

The Purpose

The purpose of the text is to create an influencing image to the audience, which created an emotional influence of athletics worldwide. The image was trying to achieve the protest against athletes, which was carefully planned by Tommie and Carlos. The picture created a significant image which was protesting against poverty in the United States. They were trying to create awareness of the black people who wore the beads and scarves which were opposing the rights of the black Americans. This led to undermining of their persuasiveness, and they were chased out of the stadium and also were ordered to move out of the city of Mexico, and they received death threats when they went back to the US team. The purpose was not to create a negative image, but wanted to create awareness of justice in the states. Many people did not take seeing it as an affirmative act, but as a harmful influencing act to the entire nation.

Raising the Flag of Athletics

This involved the athletics occasion in which the two Carlos and Smith raised the flag of athletics in the United States and when they were chased away joined the football as professional players. It was during 1968Olympics that they raised their fists on the human freedom protest during the Olympics medal ceremony in the city of Mexico. The social event was the celebration of the award of those champions of the Olympics who had won medals were being awarded during this day. The game had brought many people together to celebrate the Olympics award day. 

The event was culturally held because all cultures are involved in the development and this is seen as a cultural event which is done everywhere as a refreshing agent and also for socialization purposes. The Olympic history can be traced from a long period since human beings have been holding communal athletics which were used to bring many people together. Therefore, this text joins the historical, social and cultural activities of the communities and also addresses the human beings challenges which they encountered in their social-cultural and authentic life.

The text appeared in the Olympic activity held in the city of Mexico just during when the smith had won gold and Carlos had won bronze. The location related to the other rhetorical in that the occasion appeared in the state where there is injustice done for the black Americans, and they that protested did it for the freedom of the black which rocked in the whole world which is still traced by in the history.The two speakers use didactic tone to have their message delivered well and clear. The sound focuses on informing the audience of the ability and power of African-American. The sound is built up by the actions depicted by the two in the picture. The music is appropriate, and it enforces the credibility of the speaker.

Smith and his colleague Carlos have used the pathos appeal to invoke the feelings of their audiences, acquire acceptance and acceptance of the message they are delivering. The raised hand that is covered by black gloves invokes emotions of victory from the audience whereby they would celebrate them for winning (McGuigan, 8-9). They also show the power of the black people, which shows that they can engage in social events.

They have also used ethos where they presented their issue and acquired approval. They respected the national anthem by standing up when it was being raised. Moreover, increasing their hands did not cause any disruptions to the ongoing event. Logos appeal employed by the two speakers is the fact that their action is based on a viable reason. They won and thus were expressing their pride in that. The rate of discrimination was high in the United States. Therefore, they focused on showing the power of the black community.

Rhetorical analysis is an important aspect in persuading people and it could use texts or even photographs. In this case, the analysis of the photograph of two Olympic winners depicted several features that were all aimed at persuading the audience. The two athletes wore black gloves on their hands, which manifested black people power and pride despite the discrimination they faced in the United States.

Work Cited

Jeong, Se‐Hoon. "Visual metaphor in advertising: Is the persuasive effect attributable to visual argumentation or metaphorical rhetoric?." Journal of marketing communications 14.1 (2008): 59-73.

Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press, 2008.

McGuigan, Brendan. Rhetorical devices: A handbook and activities for student writers. Prestwick House Inc, 2011.