The original audience of the speech
given by Malcolm X, is the entire African American population that is going
through the treacherous effects of police brutality. Malcolm X uses his authority
and credibility in the black community to ensure that his point got across. His
point was that as long as you were colored you were seen as a threat and
therefore liable to be wrongly prosecuted by the police. At the end of the
speech, the audience applauded in agreeance with Malcolm so it is safe to
assume that he is a respected figure in the African American community. Malcolm
X uses his own ethos to persuade the audience to take a stance for what is he
deems as right. He also uses the repetition of “white” in a harsh tone to begin
getting the audience involved into his speech. Then he describes how the police
convince the white public that the black community is entirely dangerous, by
describing this he allows the audience to see that without their help in changing
society then everything will forever remain the same. Currently, the audience
of the speech is still African Americans but also anyone else who is “woke” and
wants to see an end to police brutality. Malcolm X continues to empower
whomever listens to the speech in a way that makes them want to get up and do
something.
Malcolm X's audience was definitely the African American community, and sadly it probably did not have much of an effect on the privileged members of society. However, I like how you pointed out that this was a speech of empowerment and inspiration. I believe that he achieved the goal of his speech by getting people of color riled up and ready to take action. So although he did not reach everyone, his desired audience was for sure within his grasp.
ReplyDeleteI think you elaborated really well on who his audience was and how he used his ethos. So I am just going to say that when you said "the police convinced the white public that the black community is entirely dangerous," it drew my attention because that is still happening nowadays. Whenever we see on the news nowadays that a Black man has been killed by a police officers, you will see a lot of people on social media trying to justify the wrongdoings of the police.
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