Language and Power- Racism

We stand here today to further change the history that racism has left its mark upon, crippling our society. A society that still allows many to be jobless and uneducated due to their race. A society that still accepts the death of many innocent lives due to their race. Should we stand here, watching it in horror but let it carry on? We are the ones that are here today with the power to do something. Lets take advantage of that. Lets look up to people like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, who risked their lives for the cause. Let them be the inspiration for a change. Lets change today.

Even though people of different ethnicities are more accepted today some children/people still experience bullying just because they are of a different race. Many people are ignorant and still follow 'stereotypes'. For example, Muslims are now associated as bad people just because of the wrong doings of the extremist group called ISIS, when actually they aren't the ones doing wrong. Yet, Christians are never associated with wrong doing even though there was a terrorist group called the KKK who caused just as much terror, if not more.

We found that verbal abuse is the most common source of racism. We found that people of a darker tone have worse outcomes than those of a lighter shade of skin colour. We found that topics like home ownerships, health and employment can cause conflict due to the unfairness of assuming that certain ethnicities are and forever will be of a lower working class. We found that job interviews can vary in applicants and that how many applicants are sent vary depending on a persons ethnicity. An example would be that a Chinese person must submit 68% more applications than an Italian person who would only have to submit 12% more.

This is not acceptable. We must make it equal for all races. And to do that we need commitment and participation. We need you.


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This speech is quite powerful after noting the large amount of modal verbs used. For example; 'We found' and 'We must'. This declarative mood is present from the start all the way to the end. The facts and figures strengthen the context of racism today, and makes the speech seem more believable inferring the spokesperson as intelligent. By using complex and simple sentences, the speaker puts across the point in short outbursts as well as long evidential statements. This changes the tempo of certain points that are made therefore enhancing the impact that it has on the audience. The speaker has also used a rhetorical question thus implying that the audience should think about the answer. The rhetorical question also is a method of including the audience without actually asking for input. Overall this speech pursues the topic of racism with extreme power, taking into account the mentioning of the most important inspirations in black history, that as the speaker says,  'risked their lives for the cause'.