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Ross-Wynne Ruben
Dr. Lyn J. Freymiller
CAS 137H Rhetoric and Civic Life
8 October 2015
Racism Today: The Imbalance of Socio-Economic Opportunity
Humankinds greatest enemy is, and has always been, humankind. For centuries man has
murdered, enslaved, raped, extorted, defiled, and dehumanized his fellow man. There is no one
simple answer to why humanity so frequently and rapidly turns against itself. Perhaps this
behavior is driven by the hunger for power, the thirst for influence, or the itch for wealth that
mankind seems to be obsessed with obtaining. Whatever the reason for having enemies may be,
humankind has perfected the science of creating them. Even in the modern day the trend of
people to find, highlight, and denounce ethnic differences is still certainly evident, bringing us to
the problem of racism. Braden Goyette and Alissa Scheller of the Huffington Post conducted
extensive research on the imbalance amongst economic trends based on race. The average
neighborhood poverty rate by household income was highest in black and Hispanic communities
and lowest in white communities with a gap of about 9%. The median net worth of white
families is $236,500 greater than that of black families. Clearly racism is still an outstanding
problem, and there are two specific artifacts that bring racial inequality directly to anyones
attention regardless of who they are or what kind of place in society they come from. The first
artifact is a poster campaign sponsored by the International League against Racism and AntiSemitism (LICRA) which deals with the imbalance in work opportunities for people because of
their skin color. The second artifact is a poster designed by Ohio Universitys Students Teaching

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about Racism in Society (STARS) which addresses the way races or ethnicities are generalized to
look or act a certain way. Although approaching the issue from different angles, the application
of visual elements to invoke pathos and the historical and logical support for the cause is present
and analyzable in the rhetoric of each artifact. Racism is in no way simple or comfortable to talk
about, for its a problem that has challenged so many generations. It can be argued that the issue
of racism could be resolved if people are willing to reevaluate their prejudices and societal
expectations to allow for equal opportunity and treatment for people of all races.
Strike the heart first. An effective advertisement campaign will target the audiences
emotion first. This tactic causes the audience to become more vulnerable and susceptible to
influence. Invoking an emotional response has the effect of opening a persons mind, allowing
the message to carry more weight. The LICRA artifact does this by using newborn babies as its
subject. The posters depict three newborns in the infirmary. The two infants on either side are
white and are wearing nothing more than a diaper. The infant in the center, however, is of a
darker hue and is dressed in a service uniform, maids outfit, or construction workers garb. Its
caption, and therefore main argument, reads: Your skin color shouldnt dictate your future.
Babies represent the zenith of human innocence. Children are the most valued and protected
citizens in nearly every society in the world. It must be remembered that racism doesnt start
when people enter the workforce, it starts the day they are born. The way the LICRA artifact uses
the second person, addressing the audience directly, allows one to infer that the target audience is
those who identify with being black or otherwise anyone of any race or ethnicity whose skin
color causes people to make unjust assumptions about their character or experiences.
The STARS artifact enlists a more subtle, but nevertheless effective, means of presenting
pathos. It features four ethnically unique students each holding a photo of a satirical costume

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based on the ethnicity they presumably identify with. The caption reads: Were a culture, not a
costume. This is not who I am, and this is not okay. The four students depicted on the poster
have very serious, and even sad, facial expressions. You can visibly see the disappointment on
their faces, accentuated by the words NOT OKAY capitalized and inflated right next to them.
Notice that the students arent displaying anger or hatred. Sometimes an accusation backed by
raw, unfiltered emotion can be off turning, causing the audience to not take whatever is being
presented to them seriously. The students at the Ohio University did an excellent job of keeping
their cool while still invoking feeling of sympathy and guilt from the viewer. The audience for
either campaign cannot help but feel something, regardless of whether you are the perpetrator or
the victim of racial prejudice. Unfortunately emotion alone is not enough to inspire change. The
emotion invoked by the posters needs to be controlled and applied to logic. History and cold hard
facts can serve to support the logical appeal behind these artifacts.
Any cause looking to gain some level of legitimacy must be built on a foundation of
factual and historical evidence to verify their ideas as necessary and important. Logos, the logical
appeal of an artifact, uses rhetoric to convey thinking beyond the visuals or text of the artifact
itself. Professor Jeanne Fahnestock of the University of Maryland describes logos as the
premise of the argument, which can be presented directly in the text or metaphorically through
symbolism. It is a tool of rhetoric to convey the hard information that essentially acts as the glue
for the artifact itself. Forcing someone to question an aspect of an artifact is its own form of
rhetoric since it may cause a skeptic to do their own digging on the topic. Both artifacts address
racism with reference to societal expectations based on race or ethnicity. The LICRA poster
campaign refers specifically to economic and class expectations. Understanding these
unfortunate, but factual statistics was most likely the reason for the author of the LICRA artifact

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to depict the children as working in some of the lowest income occupations that our society has
to offer.
The STARS poster differs from the LICRA advertisement in that it deals with cultural
racism, rather than classism. This opens up the conversation of what is deemed politically
correct. The photos held by each student is of a satirical depiction based on stereotypes of the
ethnic group that each student identifies with. The world we live in is becoming increasingly
concerned with making sure that everything is PC. Recent events such as the controversy over
the name, logo, and mascot of the Washington Redskins football team relate directly to the
message of this artifact. Another incident involved a sorority at Penn State University who took
part in a Mexican themed party by wearing ponchos, sombreros, and fake mustaches. A few of
the sorority sisters were even holding cardboard signs with derogatory messages pertaining to the
stereotyped role of Mexican immigrants in our society. This situation is simply an
embarrassment to such a fine university and a highly organized and philanthropic
fraternity/sorority system (Basu). A rhetorical effect of displaying the costumes in the artifact
is that it reminds the audience of a time in which maybe they were not perfectly PC. What people
dont realize is that something that may seem innocent or playful to one may possibly be very
hurtful or offensive to another. There is no question that these two artifacts have a strong rooting
in the events and statistics of the past and present. By directly noting the logical support for an
otherwise emotional poster, the artifacts effectively legitimize themselves and lay the
groundwork for transforming their audience into their activists.
The voice is a powerful thing, when it is used it can revolutionize society, when it isnt it
can destroy society. Being silent about racism is prima facie for aiding the proliferation of it. The
analysis of these two artifacts has revealed not only the ways in which rhetoric can be used to

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convey a significant message, but it also uncovered the underlying issue perpetuating racism
today: silence. The sad truth is, many people can retreat to their ethnically uniform community
bubble, and never have to acknowledge racism. These bubbles are the reason so many do not
realize the severity of the race issue in this country right now. If there is any mission or challenge
to be taken away from these artifacts it would be to at least recognize that inequality and
prejudice does exist. Acceptance is the first step. Of course we cannot all become gung-ho
activists, but we can certainly learn to not be bystanders. Writer, political activist, professor, and
Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel once said, Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence
encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

Works Cited
"About Stars." About Stars. Ohio University, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2015.

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Basu, Moni. "Penn State Sorority Sisters Denigrate Mexicans in Party Photo." In America RSS.
CNN, 5 Dec. 2012. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
Fahnestock, Jeanne. "The Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos." The Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and
Logos. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
Goyette, Braden. Scheller, Alissa "15 Charts That Prove We're Far From Post-Racial." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 July 2014. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
Wiesel, Elie. "The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity." The Elie Wiesel Foundation for
Humanity. The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.