jesse jackson save the dreaam
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Rhetorical Analysis on "Save the Dream"
In his speech "Save the Dream", Jesse Jackson tries to convince Californians to vote against Proposition 209, a proposed bill that eliminates the consideration of gender and race factors in selective processes such as employment or admission to a college by making it illegal to do so. Affirmative action has been a highly debated issue ever since the doctrine was established and is in the likes of other sensitive issues like abortion, death penalty, and health care. Being pro-affirmative action, Jesse Jackson gives a speech that urges his listeners to vote against the bill that endangers the doctrine by using persuasion methods that are embedded in his words. The style, structure, and wording of this speech is precisely calibrated to get his point across by appealing to our emotions, establishing his credibility as an activist, and using statistics and numbers to decorate his argument.
From the very beginning of the speech, he praises the audience in a very graceful and humble way ("I congratulate you, people of faith and hope") in order to establish the idea that he is on their team and that they are in a struggle against the ones who want to do away with affirmative action. This first part of the speech is crucial to his speech because his praise works to flatter the crowd and attain their attention. He then begins to compare this gathering with famous and inspiring incidents that happened in the Bible (Moses and the passage through the Dead Sea, Joshua and the boycott, Jesus and carrying the cross) and with the forefathers of civil rights such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. This gives the feeling to the audience that this too is just as important as those milestone events. After he convinces his audience that their pro-affirmative action vision is to be defended, he introduces them to the enemy that they must fight-the "dream busters". He refers to lawmakers as dream busters because they work to sabotage the idea of the American dream which is the idea of equal opportunity for all, justice, and equality...