Quintero 1

Gabriela Quintero

AP English Language and Composition

Ms. Jennings

September 27, 2019

Marcus Garvey’s Warnings on Racial Equality

The idiom, “the handwriting is on the wall,” refers to a Biblical telling about Daniel,

where the prophet interprets mysterious writing inscribed on a wall as a warning of presentiment

danger to the King Belshazzar that he will be overthrown. With the context of this idiom in

mind, Jamaican speaker Marcus Garvey, gave a speech in New York in 1921 with support from

other advocates for African redemption. In Marcus Garvey’s ​The Handwriting is on the wall,​ he

stresses the global impact of not reaching and enforcing racial equality with a shift in tone as

well as the repetition of the phrase, “the handwriting is on the wall”, that serves as a warning to

the audience.

The way Garvey initiates his argument is by using an intense tone while representing the

commonly known phrase as a way to explain the concrete ways impending global issues have

proven to bring out uprisings among the oppressed. He starts off the speech with emphasis on the

importance of not ignoring the clear signs of racial injustices. While speaking to the audience

about this, Garvey points out specific examples of how the handwriting is on the wall (Garvey

31-33). He compares them to being “as plain as daylight,” and it is therefore easy to “see it

coming out of India, the tribes of India rising in rebellion against their overlords” (Garvey 31).

This comparison creates imagery that embodies the spirit of rebellion. It is further put to use to

prove how this spirit is within cultures everywhere, and still continues to be ignored. Garvey,
 Quintero 2

directed to the people within the African American community, explains how it is also “coming

out of Africa, our dear motherland, Africa,” as well as “ the Moors rising in rebellion against

their overlords, and defeating them in every turn” (Garvey 31). The tone in this passage suggests

feelings of irritation, and an overall aggravated attitude towards the racial inequalities around the

world that are constantly ignored. The speaker even explicitly expresses feelings of aggravation

by stating how they “desire to serve notice on civilization and on the world that 400,000,000

Negroes are aggrieved”(Garvey, 31). This tactic is useful to call out the lack of urgency for

taking action against these catastrophes.

The speaker shifts his tone in the speech as he explains the consequences of continuing to

ignore the handwriting on the wall. In the second half of Garvey’s speech, he offers a horrific

image of a war between all races, which should end of humanity as they know it. Therefore, the

use of this motif was altered to represent small uprisings within different countries, to a global

issue/war involving everyone and their failure to pay attention to his warnings. After calling out

lack of urgency, the speaker states how he wanted to “warn the white races of this, and their

doom”, he continues, “I hope they will take heed, because the handwriting is on the wall”

(Garvey 32). Through further explanations on how terrible this looming event will be, the

speaker comes to the conclusion that all he can do is “warn humanity everywhere, so that

humanity may change its tactics, and warn them of the danger” (Garvey 33). Respectively to the

shift in application to the motif, the tone of the speech has a shift as well. It goes from

aggravation to urgency for action, as he places the responsibility on the shoulders of every

individual to help spread the word of this incoming danger.

 Quintero 3

The style in which Marcus Garvey warned humanity of the global impact of not

satisfying racial equality with the repetition of an idiom is similar to many public figures in

today’s society that have used this same style. Most recently, Gretta Thornburg, a 16 year old

Swedish activist, brought awareness to the lack of action being done by adults towards climate

change. In her ​This is all Wrong ​speech, she warns her audience of upcoming generations who

will only know betrayal and lack of trust in their elders, due to the lies and broken promises by

adults regarding climate change. Garvey and Gretta Thornburg both also make powerful uses of

a repetition of a phrase for emphasis, Gretta’s being “how dare you”, and Garvey’s being “the

handwriting is on the wall”. The deliverance of these speeches were parallel in the way they

warned their audience, but the related content varies across time periods. With all the commotion

surrounding climate change, it rises the question about how Garvey would view how climate

change and racial equality relate to one another in today’s society, and how his speech

deliverance tactics might compare now with this crossover in issues.

 Quintero 4

Work Cited

Blaisdell, Robert. ​Great Speeches of the Twentieth Century.​ Dover Pub., 2011.

“Handwriting on the Wall.” ​The Free Dictionary​, Farlex,

idioms.thefreedictionary.com/handwriting+on+the+wall.

Kettley, Sebastian. “Greta Thunberg Speech in Full: Read the Climate Activist's Damning
Message to the UN.” ​Express.co.uk,​ Express.co.uk, 27 Sept. 2019,
www.express.co.uk/news/science/1183377/Greta-Thunberg-speech-full-read-climate-change-UN
-speech-transcribed-United-Nations.

Goals for this mini essay:

1) Have a good flow of ideas from one paragraph to the next
2) Incorporating and citing evidence the right way
3) Have word variation, show my voice