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Yvonne Palfreyman
Professor Briggs
English 1050
July 6, 2014
Part One: Othering
Over the years there has been much discrimination towards minorities and different
ethnicities. This is also called othering, and although we have come a long way since our
ancestors came to the United States, we unfortunately still see othering today. People are still
treated differently because of their race, or the way they believe.
My own great grandmother came to the United States through Ellis Island in 1906. She
had to go through health exams and had to get rid of everything she owned because the lice on
the ship were so bad. For her, her story became a good one of the many that got to enter the
country, but for others that were allowed to enter the country they still had discrimination against
them. For others who got turned away, there was only sadness and grief. Mary Gordon stated
that for some, there was nothing to go back to, or there was certain death (433). Although this
happened many years ago, people today are being told that they arent the right race.
Some people want to believe that there is no discrimination against other races anymore,
that we have come to accept one another as equals. This is not true, it is all around us, and even
though it is better than the 1850s when Frederick Douglass addressed slavery in the United
States to an audience on the Fourth of July, when he said America is false to the past, false to
the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future (466). This is true in many
ways; people are ignorant to what goes on around them, maybe because they dont want to get
involved, or dont want to admit its there, but it is still there, and if people dont try for a better
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tomorrow there wont be one. Barack Obama addressed in his campaign speech in 2008 how far
we have come, and yet how far we still have to go. Obama commented that what we have seen-
is that America can change. That is the true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved
gives us hope- the audacity to hope- for what we can and must achieve tomorrow (481). His
speech did give people hope for a better tomorrow, and even though we have seen changes like
the first African American President, we still need to work on treating people that are different
then ourselves better than how we do now.
Mark Potok reported in 2013 that more than 250,000 Americans over the age of 12 are
victimized every year by hate criminals, that number is astounding, and not even an accurate
number because there are many incidences that are not reported (SPLC). One case that was
reported in May of 2013 was of a hit list of African Americans spray painted in the bathroom at a
high school. I cant even imagine what those students and their parents went through seeing that.
There was another case where a 20-year-old black woman said she was set on fire by three men
who wrote the initials KKK and a racial slur on her car in northeastern Louisiana (New York
Daily News). It is sad that after all these years African Americans are still being treated in this
way.
Its not just African Americans that are treated differently, but many minorities, like the
Hispanics. Gloria Anzaldua wrote about how she was discriminated against growing up, and how
she was punished for not speaking English. She remarked I am my language and as long as I
have to accommodate the English speakers rather than having them accommodate me, my tongue
will be illegitimate (525). This was very frustrating to her, as it is to too many Hispanics today.
Fortunately there are more ways of communication now than when she was growing up; because
of language interpreters, many people can now communicate who use to not be able to.
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Where I live and where my children are growing up, we have many minorities living
around us. From Hispanics and Asian Americans to Native Americans and African Americans
(just to name a few), my children are growing up to accept all people no matter their race and
religion. The differences I see between my own children and their cousins who dont live by us
are big and also sad ones. Their cousins are racist towards Hispanics, for no good reason, thats
just how they are growing up, hearing their parents making rude comments about Hispanics and
telling jokes they think are funny.
My oldest son would hear his cousin say rude jokes and comments about Hispanics, and
one day told his cousin that he didnt want to hear them because he has many good friends that
are Hispanic. I am proud of my son for doing this, because many people are too afraid to speak
up and say that they dont appreciate and agree with people who are racist. Brooke Rose
commented on the week two post that Douglass and Obama both are sharing their beliefs to
people that may oppose their hopes to see each other equally and to work together to make this
nation better with every passing year. Its too bad that more people arent willing to stand up for
what is right, because today his cousin no longer says comments in front of him, and has started
to see that my sons friends are good people. If only I could say the same for his parents.
There is also discrimination towards Asian Americans; Robert Salonga reported in May
2014 that there was a 20 year old woman who hit a four year old and her father over the head
with a tire iron at an East San Jose Wal-Mart just because they are of Asian descent
(Mercurynews.com). This is very disturbing to me, that someone could hurt a child like that just
because of their race. There is also an incident where a 19 year old Asian American took his own
life because of the hazing he received from his Sgt. and six other soldiers in the U.S. Army. This
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is very sad, because to me that young man probably joined the Army to help other people and
instead got ridiculed because of his race.
We also cant forget the Native Americans who have had the short end of the stick since
the arrival of the pilgrims to this country many years ago. They had land taken away, forced to
move to certain areas, called savages and much more. Even today they are still discriminated
against; Dr. Dean Chavers wrote just five days ago on July 1, 2014, on the racism Native
American students receive in Indian schools and regular schools. He said in Pit River Country,
northeast of Redding, California, Indian students have been called disgusting, wagon burners,
savages, and dirty Indians (today media network.com). That is just one example of the many
examples Chavers gives in his story.
Even though there are some people who accept others differences, or people who are
starting to accept others differences, there are still too many that will never accept other peoples
differences. People need to stop looking at the color of ones skin and start looking at the inside.
There may be bad people in every race, but there are also many good people in every race, and
we need to get to know someone before making judgments on them. If more people can do this,
then America and the rest of the world will be a better place.



Part two: Rhetorical Analysis
In Frederick Douglass speech in 1852 on the Fourth of July, he did very well at getting
his point across about slavery. He set up his speech well from beginning to end, while using
different rhetoric, and word choice.
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When he starts out talking about slavery, he sets up the scene using ethos, he talks about
the things he has seen through his childhood and life. He talks of the hardships the slaves are
going through, beginning with how they are treated like human stock (468). How they have to
walk miles under whips to then be sold, and separated from their families. Douglass describes a
woman whose shoulders are bare to the scorching sun, her briny tears falling on the brow of the
babe in her arms and how she was whipped from slowing down a little from the weight of her
child and her chains (468). The way Douglass describes these and other horrific images that
have been done to slaves, not only sets up credibility on all he knows about slavery, but gets his
audience to feel sympathy, by doing this he is also using pathos.
Douglass also uses logos to get his point across, he talks about how the existence of
slavery in this country brands your republicanism as a sham, your humanity as a base pretense,
and your Christianity as a lie (473). He also talks about the constitution and how there isnt
anything written for slavery. Douglass said if the constitution were intended to be, by its
framers and adopters, a slave-holding instrument, why neither slavery, slaveholding, nor slave
can anywhere be found on it (473).
I think he did a very good job getting his point across about slavery. Not only did he use
rhetoric, but he had a way with words and imagery. By telling descriptive stories to his audience
he made it so it would be hard to not picture it yourself, I know I did when I was reading it. That
way he could touch the hearts of the people in the audience and get his point across. Im sure that
he made many people rethink their way of thinking on slavery.



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Works Cited
Anzaldua, Gloria. How to Tame a Wild Tongue. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical
Reading and Writing. Diana George and John Trimbur. New York: Longman, 2012. 521-
528. Print.
Chavers, Dean. Today Media network.com. July 1, 2014. Web. July 6, 2014.
Douglass, Frederick. What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Reading Culture: Contexts for
Critical Reading and Writing. Diana George and John Trimbur. New York: Longman,
2012. 460-475. Print.
Gordon, Mary. More than Just a Shrine: Paying Homage to the Ghosts of Ellis Island. Reading
Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and Writing. Diana George and John Trimbur.
New York: Longman, 2012. 431-435. Print.
New York Daily News. Nydailynews.com. Oct. 23, 2012. Web. July 5, 2014.
Obama, Barack. A More Perfect Union. Reading Culture: Contexts for Critical Reading and
Writing. Diana George and John Trimbur. New York: Longman, 2012. 476-483. Print.
Potok, Mark. Southern Poverty Law Center. March 26, 2013. Web. July 5, 2014.
Salonga, Robert. Mercurynews.com. May 15, 2014. Web. July 5,2014.