About Us

Hello and welcome! We’re glad you stopped by our page, Rhetorical Analysis: Protesting Racial Injustices! We are a group of undergraduate students from the University of Maryland, College Park currently studying rhetoric, hence one of the reasons why this blog was created. Most of us have some background knowledge of America’s muddy and immoral history pertaining to the mistreatment of minorities and their civil rights, especially when it concerns African-Americans. Even in today’s society, we see racial injustices occur in a variety of ways. Thankfully, these injustices are seen combated through various forms of protests including public figures such as singers, athletes using their fame as a platform to bring awareness to the issue. In order to exhibit how public figures are able to bring about awareness, we’ve chosen interviews from athletes Muhammad Ali whose took place in a 1971 interview with British broadcaster, Michael Parkinson and Colin Kaepernick whose took place during a 2016 press interview after a preseason game. We felt that both of these texts emphasized the issue of racial injustices that occur in the country and the repercussions that it has had on the nation as a whole.

This topic relates to our contemporary kairotic moment because it is relevant today. The comparison of Colin Kaepernick to Muhammad Ali is relevant because it is comparing something from the past to something that is happening now. We can look at what happened in the past and contemplate what the outcome of the Colin Kaepernick situation will be, with the Muhammad Ali situation in mind. This discussion is timely because it was written while the Kaepernick story is still polarizing and Kaepernick is taking an involuntary hiatus from his sport, similar to how Ali did. At this time, Kaepernick is giving speeches and doing charity work. Readers should gain a greater understanding of Colin Kaepernick and Muhammad Ali from this blog. The reader should be able to see the juxtaposition between Kaepernick and Ali and see the similarities.
It’s amazing to see people with huge platforms and global recognition using their fame for good. Athletes, celebrities, and people of the sort that promote positivity to the public are exactly what we need, especially in today’s society. Our texts in this blog are based entirely around two people who used their status to promote change in society, specifically racism in America. Between the speech by Muhammad Ali and the speech from Colin Kaepernick, both texts address racism in America. The exigence in both texts is the calling of America to wake up and realize that racism isn’t dead. Our blog is showing how through calm, peaceful demonstrations, both Kaepernick and Ali were able to get their point across and be loud and clear with their message. This movement will influence future generations to do the same and hopefully, exterminate racism once and for all

We chose to order our posts in an unorganized fashion to represent the chaos of both time periods. By introducing Muhammad Ali and Colin Kaepernick’s audience, ethos, and kairos in the first few posts, we have allowed the readers to make their own connections between the two athletes and their motives for protesting racial injustice. We proved our argument by providing evidence from a variety of sources, first hand accounts, and quotes from the interviews we presented. We also showed the relevance of these texts by providing a third text from last month with a speech from President Trump. This, we hope, helps the readers understand the importance of these interviews and why they still need to be studied.

In accordance with the interviews with Muhammad Ali and Colin Kaepernick, we, too, as scholars advocating for social justice, implore our readers to sympathize figures advocating against racial injustices that transcend decades and centuries.  For those that share opposing views, we also hope you gained insight into the injustices prevalent not just racial, but also religious.  Furthermore, please note that figures that are initially deemed radical, are eventually recognized for their contributions to the progression of society, beyond just their sport.  There is no better time to engage in discourse on race relations than now.  Athletes across several of American sports are kneeling to spur this discussion.  Hopefully, readers of this blog will achieve new insights of the history and contemporary issue of racial injustice, made through the platforms of influential sports figures.