An Analysis Of Bryan Stevenson's Speech

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Historically, America has been predisposed towards racism against African-Americans. However, Americans, for the past century, have effectively ignored the issues with race that the American society still faces in the criminal justice system. In his TED Talk entitled “We need to talk about an injustice,” Bryan Stevenson addresses the issues with the American criminal justice system by detailing the problems and showing the important role the citizens of American can play. Although the topic is a serious one, Stevenson discusses the issues with elegance and carefulness and is able to effectively persuade his audience. Before delving into the information that Stevenson provides in his speech, it is essential to evaluate the setting that Stevenson …show more content…
Notably, Stevenson opens his speech by thanking the audience and the conference for hosting him. Next, Stevenson continues to describe a little about himself by saying that he is a lawyer that usually handles cases on death row or younger convicts; by introducing himself, Stevenson immediately establishes his credibility with the audience. Furthermore, Stevenson structures his introduction in a way that he is able to introduce the idea of identity as the main focus of his speech. Elegantly, Stevenson transitions into a story about how he learned about the importance of identity through his grandmother, moving into the body of his …show more content…
He starts by talking about his grandmother and how she implanted the idea of identity within him. He continues on throughout by retelling some of his experiences with the global and local community. Interestingly, Stevenson addresses the death penalty by discussing how Germany does not have the death penalty. Stevenson recounted a story that detailed an individual stating that Germany could not engage in the systematic killing of people because of their historical discrimination against Jews. Similarly, the United States has historically mistreated African Americans, yet Americans continue to use the death penalty primarily on black individuals. Having a significant impact on Stevenson’s life, Rosa Parks once told Stevenson that he must be brave in order to complete his mission to right the wrongs in the American society about race and inequality. Stevenson utilizes one of his encounters with Rosa Parks to engage the audience to also be brave and to stick it out on this

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