Stokely Carmichael's Speech On Black Power

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The fight for equality has been a never-ending battle throughout American History. Stokely Carmichael addressed a speech in 1966 which the term “Black Power” was introduced; during the Black Power Movement they fought for social, political and economic equalities. The goal of Stokely who spoke at UC Berkeley, was to explain to his audience the reality of the lives of African Americans whose rights were limited, and to convince his audience to support the Black Power Movement. His Speech was very successful and full of facts which contained a few rhetorical strategies which are rhetorical questions, analogies, and lastly imagery. Stokely strongly uses many rhetorical questions in his speech to get the audience’s thoughts active and running as he goes on. As he discusses on how the …show more content…

During the powerful speech, he tells his audience that the Whites have taken everything from the Blacks which includes, freedom the most important factor of all. He then goes on to say that “the country is a nation of thieves.” He specifically uses this analogy to compare his country to a nation of thieves and by that, he is conveying the message that whites have excluded them from everything, and have left them with no social, political or economic rights. The analogy is very clear to comprehend and to analyze. Through the effective use of Stokely's rhetorical strategies, he proves to his audience that African Americans are worth much more than they are thought of as, and that they deserve the same rights as everyone else in the nation. Although, the message Stokely conveys to his audience, is effective, factual, and well put together, Stokely could have provided a real-life story of a person who was affected before the Civil Rights Bills was created which would have made his adress of Black Power

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