The following letter was written in response to the Jenna Six case that occurred in 2007. It is written and addressed to the residing judge of the case and is therefore written accordingly in a very formal and professional manner:
Honorable Pete. V. Domenici:
This letter is being written concerning the "Jena Six" case in Jena, Louisiana. Many Americans feel that segregation and civil rights protests among African Americans and Whites is a thing of the past; unfortunately, this is not so. In Jena, Louisiana after asking their high school principal permission, two African American students sat under the "white" tree in the center of campus. White students then responded by hanging nooses from the tree, which can clearly be consider as a hate crime: any intimidation action to a group/class of people. For this blatant display of racism the White students underwent minor punishment of one month alternative school supervision and two weeks in school suspension for an action that was clearly illegal and morally corrupt. Why was no legal action taken against these students? When the African American students protested the lack of substantial punishment the District Attorney Reed Walters threatened the students with the remark [he could] "take their lives away with the stroke of a pen." There is undoubtedly an unreasonable amount of racial tension in Jena, racial tension that should not be tolerated in a "free" country.
Subsequent to the District Attorneys statement, a white student voiced his support of the nooses, taunting several African American students by calling them "niggers." The African American students that were relentlessly tormented fought back, beating those students displaying violent racial remarks. These six African American students, ranging from ages 14 to 18 were charged with second degree attempted murder and conspiracy. Mychal Bell, the first convinced faces up to 22 years in prison for a school fight.
The truly troubling events in this case were obviously the questionable proceedings of the trial. For example, the boys were convicted by an entirely white jury. Jena six is a racial/civil rights case, an all white jury is in no way diverse enough to make a fair ruling. To amplify this already unethical and quite malodorous situation, light has been shed on the fact that one of the jurors was in fact a close friend of the "victims" father. This is a distinct conflict of interest. Finally, the boys Mychale Bell 16, Robery Bailey Jr. 17, Carwin Jones 18, Bryant Purois 17, and Theo Shaw 17 were all charged as adults. Jesse Ray Beard, 14 at the time, was the only one charged as a minor. All Americans have the right to a fair trial. It is noticeably apparent that these boys did not receive one.
Segregation in American has been settled long ago with the blood of many Americans. Americana's freedom came at a great price ans should therefore be enforced across the land. It is essential that not one city, state, or region be overlooked or pardoned from the laws of equal opportunity and freedom. With out our nation working as one, answering to constitution based laws in their entirety, the land of the free may crumble. We must ensure this war within our borders is well settled before we can attempt to fix societies across oceans.
Thousands of American protesters, myself included, object to the proceedings of this trial and feel justice was not served. We plead with you to hear and consider our cause by supporting a close review of events by the Civil Rights Division of the United States Justice Department.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Memory as the Most Important Cannon
Exordium/Introduction:
In every Rhetoric class the Five Cannons--Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, Delivery--make up a essential part of the curriculum. While each cannon is interrelated and dependant on one another Memory holds a important place in our society that the other cannons do not. Due to technological advances the issue of memory is considered in a entirely new light in modern society compared to that of ancient Greece where the cannons were born.
Narrative:
In ancient Greece, memory was a essential skill utilized by society on a daily basis to a extent that modern society can barley imagine. The lack a printing press and even general means of record (paper and pen) were not common utensils of the time. Scholars expanded their knowledge base and practiced their rhetoric through progymnasmatas, most of which were practiced souly through repetition and memorization. For example, a progymnasmata that requires the student to persuade an audience, that student must not only remember his previous encounters with both the subject and the audience but remember in coherent detail his prepared method of delivery.
In modern times, with the invention of limitless resources and ever evolving technology any given person may only remember one telephone number, their social security number, and their address. Technology has created a society that relies almost entirely on artificial memory. In fact, we trust a great deal of our lives to this technology. We do not need to remember phone numbers, contact details, or even details of a presentation. All of these things are at our finger tips ready to be displayed at our beck and call in precise detail. It is the development of technology that has caused our society to replace the ancient concept of memory with that of a artificial one.
Partition:
The development of computers that aid in scheduling out lives is one of the best examples of this modern artificial memory. College students, for example, have a class schedule, work schedule, athletic schedule, and homework due dates to adhear to on a daily basis. To help the common college student remain punctual to every task required of them they have several instruments of technology to keep them on track through out the day.
Allow me to offer myself up as an example: at 9:50 am my alarm clock rang to remind me that I had to wake up and get ready. The alarm on my phone went off shortly after telling me that I had tutoring and then a presentation to complete that morning. During the presentation I used a power point with numerous notes to keep myself and my group on track during the discussion. Soon after I received a text telling me to come to practice at the indoor stadium at 3:00 pm. Later this afternoon I checked my email which reminded me that I had this homework due. All of these things on the computer also require log in's and passwords that the computer memorizes for me. If not for the several instruments of technology I used on a basic day, I would have fell short in many areas of my life because my modern world has shaped me not to remember these daily tasks on my own. I know I am not alone in this occurrence. I share the same memory dependence as everyone else in the modern, first world society.
Peroration:
Society is entirely dependant on technology to help us retain mundane information necessary in everyday life. Memory is the most important cannon because it is a live, evolving element of Rhetoric that brings an ancient rhetorical method into the 21st century.
In every Rhetoric class the Five Cannons--Invention, Arrangement, Style, Memory, Delivery--make up a essential part of the curriculum. While each cannon is interrelated and dependant on one another Memory holds a important place in our society that the other cannons do not. Due to technological advances the issue of memory is considered in a entirely new light in modern society compared to that of ancient Greece where the cannons were born.
Narrative:
In ancient Greece, memory was a essential skill utilized by society on a daily basis to a extent that modern society can barley imagine. The lack a printing press and even general means of record (paper and pen) were not common utensils of the time. Scholars expanded their knowledge base and practiced their rhetoric through progymnasmatas, most of which were practiced souly through repetition and memorization. For example, a progymnasmata that requires the student to persuade an audience, that student must not only remember his previous encounters with both the subject and the audience but remember in coherent detail his prepared method of delivery.
In modern times, with the invention of limitless resources and ever evolving technology any given person may only remember one telephone number, their social security number, and their address. Technology has created a society that relies almost entirely on artificial memory. In fact, we trust a great deal of our lives to this technology. We do not need to remember phone numbers, contact details, or even details of a presentation. All of these things are at our finger tips ready to be displayed at our beck and call in precise detail. It is the development of technology that has caused our society to replace the ancient concept of memory with that of a artificial one.
Partition:
The development of computers that aid in scheduling out lives is one of the best examples of this modern artificial memory. College students, for example, have a class schedule, work schedule, athletic schedule, and homework due dates to adhear to on a daily basis. To help the common college student remain punctual to every task required of them they have several instruments of technology to keep them on track through out the day.
Allow me to offer myself up as an example: at 9:50 am my alarm clock rang to remind me that I had to wake up and get ready. The alarm on my phone went off shortly after telling me that I had tutoring and then a presentation to complete that morning. During the presentation I used a power point with numerous notes to keep myself and my group on track during the discussion. Soon after I received a text telling me to come to practice at the indoor stadium at 3:00 pm. Later this afternoon I checked my email which reminded me that I had this homework due. All of these things on the computer also require log in's and passwords that the computer memorizes for me. If not for the several instruments of technology I used on a basic day, I would have fell short in many areas of my life because my modern world has shaped me not to remember these daily tasks on my own. I know I am not alone in this occurrence. I share the same memory dependence as everyone else in the modern, first world society.
Peroration:
Society is entirely dependant on technology to help us retain mundane information necessary in everyday life. Memory is the most important cannon because it is a live, evolving element of Rhetoric that brings an ancient rhetorical method into the 21st century.
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