Obama's speech

Essay by peteryaacoubHigh School, 11th gradeB+, October 2014

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Obama Speech

This speech is written by Barrack Obama on July 19, 2013 and looks at the racial discrimination towards African-Americans. Obama's contention is for equality among the American population and particularly African-American boys and as a nation America needs to do something to give them a sense that their country cares about them and values them. At the beginning of the article, Obama gives a personal tone and gives his personal experiences about been an African-American. He then becomes hopeful suggesting that with each successive generation progress has been made in changing attitudes towards African-Americans. The audience of this speech is the American population as he is addressing this issue to the entire American country. The purpose of the speech is to make people aware that racial discrimination still exists but they all need to aim towards continuing to improve upon it and to ask Americans to examine their own racism.

This speech is a persuasive speech as Obama was appealing to people to think about racism and to persuade them that it needs to end.

African-Americans were sensitive towards the shooting of Treyvon Martin as they were relating it to past personal experiences and racial discrimination throughout history. Many African-Americans had experienced racial discrimination and Treyvon Martin could have been any one of them. Throughout history African-Americans have worked hard to be treated equally and are still facing the challenges of discrimination today. This shooting highlights the continual battle against this issue. While much progress has been made to improve attitudes, there is still a need to reflect on how African-Americans are treated. The way the African-Americans interpreted what happened to Treyvon Martin was influenced by these experiences.

Discrimination has also been evident when the criminal law is applied to different races. The law has applied harsher penalties...