Letter To My Son Rhetorical Analysis

Break the Chains Off
The United States of America is a nation internationally known as a land of opportunity, freedom, and justice for all. Unfortunately, this assumption fails to be accurate. African American citizens are continually disadvantaged and disenfranchised in the United States while their white counterparts maintain a higher social and economic standing. Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and music artists Kendrick Lamar and Jermaine Cole shed light on this problematic situation using a variety of media methods. Coates in his article “Letter to My Son”, Kendrick Lamar in his music video “Alright”, and Jermaine Cole in his live performance “Be Free”, argue that the U.S. has oppressed African Americans with its flawed capitalist culture and

This comprises of a very large population with voting power that may not be currently protesting the establishment. Coates, Lamar, and Cole intend to inform this audience of the hardships blacks face in society in order to convince them to unite and pressure the establishment to reform the system to free blacks from oppression and allow them to attain equality. Coates frames his article as a letter to his son, but there are messages that he is trying to get out to a young adult audience mostly by employing use of pathos to influence his audience’s sense of compassion. Near the beginning, Coates recalls a time when his son stayed up all night “waiting for the announcement of the indictment” (Coates, “Letter to My Son”) of the officer who killed Michael Brown. One can understand just how important this case was for his son as Coates describes how his son ran to his room and cried after hearing that the officer would not be charged. This recollection offers insight into the importance of this case for his son. It grasps at the emotions of the audience who then also remember their reaction to the death of Michael Brown. Emotion is also a crucial

Coates reminds his son of the time that they discovered that the “killers of Michael Brown would go free” (Coates, “Letter to My Son). This is referring to the police brutality case where officers shot and killed an unarmed black 18-year-old named Michael Brown. This supports his claim of a broken system by describing how injustice prevailed without punishment or repercussions for the police officer involved. Coates continues to list many names including Eric Garner, Renisha McBride, John Crawford and Tamir Rice to argue the brutality and violence targeted at the black community from the police department as well as the lack of accountability or justice in these incidents. Coates expresses a sense of hopelessness that the current system will never change and all one can do is try to escape the black community. Cole, in his performance “Be Free”, sings, “Can you tell me why every time I step outside I see my people die” (1:23-1:30). This is a response to the police shootings of unarmed black people. Cole appeals to pathos or the emotions of his audience by singing this line forcefully and with sadness. He is genuinely saddened by the current and historic situation with violence towards blacks. Cole strikes a similar idea as Coates as he sings, “All we wanna do is break the chains