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“Identify Politics and Dad’s Loss” by Nichols Kristof Rhetorical Analysis
Nicholas Kristoff explained the root cause of most failures and corruption in the United States in his article, “Identify Politics and Dad’s Loss.” He correlated failures and corruption in the US to race and sex discrimination. The author supported his argument with a story on the Crutcher family. The family was suffering from the death of their son, which was directly related to race. The son, Terrance Crutcher, had been killed through shooting by a white police officer while unarmed. The family had previously lost other children to death that are linked to race. He argued that the US had become too focused on “identity politics” while neglecting issues to do with economic justice. Kristoff uses politicians’ quotes, past events, reflective stories, ethos, logos, pathos, sadness, and emotive language to help readers understand how democrats have shifted their focus to racial identity instead of economic justice.
Kristoff uses past events to criticize racial discrimination in the United States. He mentions events like, “Slave of anti-Catholic riot” and the “China exclusion law” to show historical events of discrimination in the US and affect individuals from different beliefs and races. The statement shows how America’s major failures have been caused by racial discrimination.
The author uses a tone of sadness and loss at the beginning of the article when he visits the black pastor. The pastor tells him about the loss of his son to race and also other losses the family has experienced before due to the same issue. The family has been hot by cancer, loss from the race gap and race gap. The readers can feel the pain race has caused to the minority individuals in the United States.
Kristoff uses principles from political analysts in the US. He states Sander’s and Lila’s principles, which states, “One of the struggles that you are going to be seeing in the Democratic Party is whether we go beyond identity politics.” The author uses the principle to show how the issue of identity policies is intense in the US. Democrats can talk about other things like jobs and fairness, but they cannot run from the truth; they must talk about race, gender and ethnicity.
The author has sued logos and ethos to support his argument firmly. Logos-Kristof’s thesis is clear and specific: a faction argues that the left became too focused on identity politics, fighting for the Muslim, gays, blacks and Latino’s rights and forgetting the issue of economic justice that would appeal to everyone, working-class whites in particular.” The writer has supported the main argument by reflecting on the democrat’s debates and how they focus on race instead of jobs and fairness. Kristoff’s use of politician’s quotes, past event, reflective story, ethos, logos, pathos, sadness, tone and emotive language to persuade the audience to focus on economic justice.
Kristoff applies ethics in his article by establishing his authority to speak for the shot boy. Terrance Crutcher was shot and murdered by a white police officer while unarmed. The writer directly connects himself with the article. He shows some respect by addressing viewpoints related to the subject.
The author also uses pathos to bring some emotional responses to his article. The writer mentions the unarmed boy being shot by a white police officer and the family losing other members on race. He explains more how these losses were not exactly caused by race but were highly linked to race. By the use of pathos, he persuades the readers to feel the emotions related to race.
Kristoff uses quotations from other writers and political analysts to help the readers understand his argument on identity in the US. He used a quote from Bryan Stevenson, a civil rights lawyer, on his view about class gap and race, and his answer was, “it’s like having two kinds of cancer at the same time.” (Kristoff). The quote showed readers how other people viewed the issue of race in the United States. The writer also quotes Lila’s principle, “American liberalism has slipped into a kind of moral panic about racial, gender and sexual identity that has distorted liberalism’s message and prevented it from becoming a unifying force.” The quotes reveal how America is in a great mess of economic justice due to race and sex discrimination.
The writer uses comparison to show how race has caused a lot of pain to African Americans. He compares shooting of the black people to the deadly disease cancer. “Crib death and cancer both are more lethal among African-Americans.” The comparison shows the extent to which racial discrimination has endangered the lives of black Americans. The civil right lawyer has used the word cancer, “it’s like having two kinds of cancer at the same time.” (Kristoff) When he compares the race gap and class gap. The author has used the word “cancer” to imply that racial discrimination is as worse as cancer, which has claimed millions of people’s lives.
Kristoff uses emotive language to persuade readers to connect with his points of view. “So, do we need to choose between identity and justice? Can’t we treat both cancers?” (Kristoff). With this, he puts the readers into the same dilemma he is experiencing. The pronoun “we” creates a personal connection with the readers. Readers will feel more engaged since they are being addressed directly by the writer. The writer urges the readers to help him decide whether they would treat both justice and identity together. Kristoff explains that America has several career opportunities to grow if they stop focusing on differences between people.
Kristoff’s use of politicians’ quotes, past events, reflective stories, ethos, logos, pathos, sadness, tone, and emotive language persuades the readers to understand the poor American situation for racial identity. The author has engaged his readers in the dilemma that he is in for thinking about justice for all or identity. He shows the readers using quotes from the politicians how the democrats have been left out of the economy due to racial identity issues. Kristoff has admitted that racial identity issue is one of the contemporary issues in America, but persuades people to shift their focus from racial identity to an issue like economic justice that will appeal to everyone regardless of gender, class and race.
Works Cited
Kristof, Nichols. “Identify Politics and Dad’s Loss.” The New York Times. 8 Dec. 2016. https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk02lZrD02XB7rpaelTKrLoqlp_wusg:1603988373027&q=%22Identity+Politics+and+Dad%27s+Loss%22+by+Nicholas+Kristof+article&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiYucqpmtrsAhVRZMAKHcUcBM4Q7xYoAHoECAIQKA&biw=800&bih=756