The early 1960’s was a heated time period of political tension in the United States. The civil rights movement for social justice and equal rights for blacks was being faced with fierce, violent opposition. In June of 1963, this opposition was very apparent when threats of violence and obstruction faced two young African-Americans who were enrolling in the University of Alabama. After the National Guard had to be mobilized to end the Alabama Governor’s blockade of the school, President John F. Kennedy quickly drafted an address to the American people. In his broadcasted speech “Report to the American People on Civil Rights,” Kennedy reminds the nation that this country was founded on the principle that all men are created equal and thus,
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With this rhetorical question, Kennedy switches the general, impersonal idea of a racial discrimination into a personal, individual issue. He insists that Americans contemplate how they would feel to be told to wait and be patient after demanding equality and simple freedoms for decades. Later on, he asks listeners to consider how hypocritical it is for Americans to proclaim that their nation is a country defined by freedom when an entire ethnic group is clearly discriminated against: “Are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is the land of the free except for the Negroes; that we have no second-class citizens except Negroes; that we have no class or caste system, no ghettoes, no master race except with respect to Negroes” (Kennedy). This rhetorical question is employed to make the point that in order to earn the moniker “the land of the free,” America must not make exceptions based on race. Kennedy stresses that in order to be the egalitarian nation that the Founding Fathers vowed this country would be, America must grant equal rights to all citizens, regardless of skin color. Kennedy poses these personal rhetorical questions to transform the nationwide issue of race into an individual moral issue and prompt listeners to take
With this rhetorical question, Kennedy switches the general, impersonal idea of a racial discrimination into a personal, individual issue. He insists that Americans contemplate how they would feel to be told to wait and be patient after demanding equality and simple freedoms for decades. Later on, he asks listeners to consider how hypocritical it is for Americans to proclaim that their nation is a country defined by freedom when an entire ethnic group is clearly discriminated against: “Are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is the land of the free except for the Negroes; that we have no second-class citizens except Negroes; that we have no class or caste system, no ghettoes, no master race except with respect to Negroes” (Kennedy). This rhetorical question is employed to make the point that in order to earn the moniker “the land of the free,” America must not make exceptions based on race. Kennedy stresses that in order to be the egalitarian nation that the Founding Fathers vowed this country would be, America must grant equal rights to all citizens, regardless of skin color. Kennedy poses these personal rhetorical questions to transform the nationwide issue of race into an individual moral issue and prompt listeners to take