Have you ever wondered what the president has to do when they are in the process of preparing to give a speech? Well back in 2015 former President Obama was delivering a eulogy for Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney, who was a former member of the South Carolina Senate and he was a pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church, but he was most notable because he was one of the nine people that were killed in the Charleston shooting in South Carolina, where gunman Dylann Roof opened fire and killed nine African Americans during a church service. Throughout his speech President Obama's language in his speech was very appealing as the sense of his religious audience, he also uses ethos, pathos, and logos throughout his speech The ethos that was used in President Obama’s eulogy speech for Rev. Pinckney was the importance of racial equality in the United States is that he was president it makes his credibility more accurate because is his opinion on political issues is somewhat automatically placed at a higher level. In his speech, Obama defends his credibility by discussing various policies and statistics that point to significant racial inequity over gun safety and voter requirements, in his speech, Obama was very persuasive in these areas because of his position in government and how government and how he demonstrated his extensive knowledge on the issue.
Another example that Obama used for ethos in his eulogy speech was by discussing the religious acceptance of black churches and their importance in American history. Obama whose a devoted Christian and him being African American which gives the audience an immediate sense of his credibility because he is in a church setting and by discussing the history of black churches by saying “have been and continue to be, community centers where organize for jobs and justice; place of scholarship and network; place where children are loved and fed and kept out of harm's way, that what happens in the church”(Obama). Obama demonstrates his credibility in an emotional sense to his audience so that they know what to him is a black church and what really means to the people of Charleston and how because of this shooting that has taken place has affected them because nine innocent African Americans had their life taken by a white supremacist.
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President Obama uses pathos in his eulogy speech for Rev. Pinckney was emotional because when he started singing “Amazing Grace” also he ended his speech by reciting the nine victims names and by him doing that to me that means that each victim has found grace, in his speech he also discusses that we as a society must think about conscious and unconscious racial discrimination in our everyday lives, he also discusses in his speech that the controversy of the confederate flag and how the community of Charleston, South Carolina is in pain from it because that flag symbolizes systematic oppression for African Americans and how everyone is blind to it but now I personally feel that we as a society is now starting to see when it comes to racial injustices in our school systems, gun violence, and the laws that are set in place nationwide in systematic racism. The logos that were used in President Obama’s speech was how he was making points regarding Rev. Pinckney and his solutions to the tense race relations present at the time of his speech, he also discusses the history of black churches and the critical importance during the underground railroad led by Harriet Tubman but most importantly he further discusses why after this shooting this should be a turning point in race relations and gun violence by Obama doing this he is allowing the audience to reflect on the horror that has just taken place in this black church because this isn't the first time this has happened where people were killed during a church service because many years ago in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama four African American girls were killed when a Ku-Klux-Klan member bombed a church while they were in service. Obama also wants his audience to understand that this was a senseless act that happened and now it is time for a change. To me when it comes to this society regarding gun violence because that is something that Americans have been fighting about for a long time when it comes to trying to get gun control laws and to this day we are still fighting for laws and there still isn't some kind of solution like how many people have to die before we get gun control laws and where still fighting racism.
In conclusion, the reason I chose to analyze this speech is because to me I felt this speech was good because Obama was able to relate to his audience because he was in a church and it was an appeal to the religious side of things and he also uses ethos, pathos, and logos throughout his speech. Another reason I felt this was a good speech was that since Obama knew Rev. Pinckney it made me feel his speech came from the heart compared to if it was someone speaking at his funeral and they didn’t know him.
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Rhetoric Analysis of Barack Obama Gun Violence Speech.
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