'Ta-Nehisi Coates Inhumanity Of The Death Penalty'

In “The Inhumanity of the Death Penalty” the author Ta-Nehisi Coates’ major argument is that the systems we create are biased. In his article Ta-Nehisi Coates mainly appeals to logical and emotional appeals. Coates does have ethical appeals in his article, but not as much compared to logical and emotional appeals. For his ethical appeals Ta-Nehisi Coates mainly uses outside sources. Coates uses some historical known facts and facts based on executions to support logical appeals, and details of a young boys’ execution for emotional appeals. The major claim Ta-Nehisi Coates makes is that the systems we create are biased. If humans tend to be biased then it will be reflected in the systems we create, evidently the systems we create are …show more content…
Ta-Nehisi Coates talks about the youngest American to be subjected to the death penalty. Coates goes on to talk about George Junius Stinney, a black boy who was only fourteen when he was sentenced to the death penalty. Ta-Nehisi Coates then proceeds to talk about the execution and how George Junius Stinney was noticeably different than adults who were also put to the death penalty. Coats cites “with a Bible under his arm, which he later used as a booster seat in the electric chair. Standing 5 foot 2 inches tall and weighing just over 90 pounds, his size (relative to the fully grown prisoners) presented difficulties in securing him to the frame holding the electrodes. Nor did the state's adult-sized face-mask fit him; as he was hit with the first 2,400 V surge of electricity, the mask covering his face slipped off, "revealing his wide-open, tearful eyes and saliva coming from his mouth ... After two more jolts of electricity, the boy was dead. ".” What Coates tries to do with the details of the execution is to gain sympathy in hopes of changing peoples mind and in return leading to agreement with him. The fact that George Junius Stinney was black and found not guilty after his exaction supports his major claim, which is that the system we have created is …show more content…
By including a professor form Princeton University in his article Ta-Nehisi Coates is able to add authority to his article and is also able to add credibility. Ta-Nehisi Coates quotes from Elizabeth Lutes Hillman "African-Americans comprised 10 percent of the armed forces but accounted for almost 80 percent of the soldiers executed during the war." Ta-Nehisi Coates, who is a writer for The Atlantic, is able to add to his own credibility, but aside from Elizabeth Lutes Hillman and himself, he also uses another writer, Ramesh Ponnuru, to add to his