The artifacts I am examining are in relation to the BLM and All Lives Matter movements and the debate regarding police brutality and racism present within the justice system.
The first artifact on the left was created by the cartoonist, Phil Hands, in April 2021 for the Wisconsin State Journal. The rhetorical situation of this artifact is in response to the harsh and disturbing events of the summer of 2020 with the murder of George Floyd. This event brought attention to the police brutality and racism present in our society and this cartoon aims to address this issue and urge the audience to act in favor of justice for George Floyd and other black lives. The audience targeted are the people who are part of the society that contributes to this racial injustice; it is a call to action for everyone in America to be an ally to the BLM movement, essentially.
The second artifact on the right was created by Jack Ohman, in December 2014 for the Sacramento Bee. The rhetorical situation of this artifact is in response to the protests that took place in 2014 after the deaths of two African Americans, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, due to police brutality. The artifact aims to illustrate how the All Lives Matter is a “compromise” between the two sides of the argument, and aims to target an audience that has an appeal to peace and no violence.
I chose this topic and these artifacts because I feel passionately about supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and spreading awareness about the difference between BLM and ALM. I was part of my high school’s equity task force and our job was to start conversations about this topic because the difference is vital to understand; it is not possible to truly advocate for one without supporting the other. Additionally, because the events of racial injustice are unfortunately happening so prominently in our lifetime, I feel the most passionate about this social issue because I have the most personal experience with it.
The relationship between the two artifacts is one of them is supporting the BLM movement while the other is stating that the BLM movement is too one-sided and harsh and therefore “All Lives Matter” is a more “peaceful compromise.” One of the artifacts is essentially disagreeing with the other while trying to illustrate a more “neutral” stance. In actuality all lives cannot matter until black lives matter so both of these statements should support each other; but instead, they have resulted in even more disagreement, which I am interested in further analyzing in my essay.
I think both of these artifacts carry a lot of emotion with them. Also, I think the emotional appeal is something you can really elaborate on, especially since you are heavily invested in your topic. You have 2 great images to work with, and plenty of different ideas to analyze.
Sanchita, it is an interesting debate to analyze. I feel the ALM movements loses the point of the Black Lives Matter movement: that there is actually a problem that needs to be addressed when it comes to how black people were and are treated in this country. It is interesting how polarized these two sides have become as well, with BLM having a liberal association and ALM having a more conservative association. I am excited to hear about where you go with the essay comparing the message of the two!