Hemphill 2
Hemphill 2
Kiyah Hemphill
January 30, 2019
AP Lang 3rd
Ms. Jones
Article ‘A’ Analysis
Fair treatment among races have been an issue since the dawn of time. Specifically, African Americans have been given the short end of the stick. With such a rough, tumultuous past, black people still face many injustices in the modern day. In Abigail Thernstrom and Stephan Thernstrom’s article, ‘Black Progress: How far we’ve come, and how far we have to go’ the authors argue that African American stereotypes are misrepresentative of what the community is really like. Black people are rarely shown support outside of their own community. Which makes it hard to strive for change.
In the text Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom use allusions, metaphors, and strong diction in their article. In this quote from former President Clinton, “…let us consider the unemployment rate for African Americans remains about twice that of whites.” Clinton emphasizes that the black population is greatly unemployed. No action was taken upon this problem; yet, Clinton pushes his response to a bias, generalized statement. Public statements from figures such as Clinton, has a great effect on impressionable people. This only adds negatively to society’s view on African Americans. Without one searching for the correct information, it can be easily obtained as the right information. While some may say African Americans have made much progress over the years, there are still many road blocks and obstacles to overcome that might never occur. “Thus, progress—by many measures seemingly so clear—is viewed as an illusion, the sort of fantasy to which intellectuals are particularly prone,” the authors express, in a metaphor, that it may seem like society has made progress towards defusing inequalities; unfortunately, the problem just gets thrown aside. People who are particularly aware of this problem, turn a blind eye.
Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom’s purpose is to make people aware of the imagery ‘progress’ we have made as a society in order to truly try to solve the problem. The authors’ tone is very serious, informative yet understanding of the issues at hand. The issue being addressed is significant and holds those accountable for ‘road blocking’...
