ABI ENG 22

2. According to the author, America’s awakening to systemic racism is overdue. Analyze

the author’s choice of words and use of stylistic devices to convey this message.

• Diction
• register
• Rhetorical devices
• Tone
• syntax

The article “America’s Long Overdue Awakening to Systemic Racism” written by Justin
Worland and published in the 11th of June 2020 in the Website “Time Magazine”, deals with
a debate on systemic racism in the US. The author expresses his concern on the political,
economic and social structure of USA, which embeds discrimination against African
Americans through a factual tone, a formal register and rhetorical devices that contribute to
a sarcastic undertone of the article.

Already in the beginning of the article, the author uses his language in a factual tone, to
convey historical events to the reader. In his article, Worland didn’t only state his opinion on
the situation lived by African American in the US. He went one step further and inserted in
the text, as much facts as possible. These facts aren´t only opinions from known people, like
the Attorney General William Barr, who stated that systematic racism is caused by “a few
bad apples” (ll. 27-28), that “we need to root (…) out” (l. 28). They are also historical facts,
such as the information about the chattel slavery (cf. 9-10), which was “legally abolished”
(l.10) “after a hard- fought Civil War” (l. 9), “as the U.S. nominally attempted to make racial
violence a thing of the past.” (l.10). The factual tone allows a broughter target group to read
the article, as it explains all the necessary information for anyone to be able to follow
fluently the authors views on the topic.

This factual tone is supported by a formal register, that manipulates the reader to consider
the information depicted in the article trustworthy. The formal register stands out in the
description of dramatic and scandalous scenes, where the author leaves his emotions aside
in order to strictly inform the reader in formal and intellectual approach. In the article, the
author describes the abuse of the police in the “Black Lives Matter” movement, with the
words: “Moments after the crowd was forcibly dispersed, screaming as their eyes burned
from the gas (…)”. This is a perfect example, where the author proved to be capable of
writing even the most difficult situations, in the most formal procedure possible, so that the
reader wins knowledge, to then be able to mold an opinion by themselves. Nevertheless, he
is able to achieve this, while also presenting himself as a wise person, therefore conveying
trust in the reader about his personal opinion.

Throughout the text, there are a few rhetorical devices, that the author wisely chose, in
order to reflect the authors opinion, either in quotes, or in his own writing. For instance, the
quote aforementioned from the Attorney General William Barr, saying that racist police
officers are just “a few bad apples (…) we need to root them out” contains a metaphor. The
meaning behind it, is the government can´t be seen as guilty for something that only a few
police officers do. Here the bad apples are a symbol for the police officers and the
government is a healthy three, which happens to grow some bad apples, as they usually do.
The author chose to include this metaphor in his text, to then contradict it with various
serious cases of racist acts not only made by the police, for example the case of George
Floyd (cf. l.33), but also by the government itself with “an education system that fails black
Americans, substandard health care that makes them more vulnerable to death and disease,
and an economy that leaves millions without access to a living wage”.

In summary, the author is able to create a connection between tone, register and rhetorical
devices, that altogether make the article sound more convincing. Although his tone and
register are more formal and serious, he combines them with sarcasm in rhetorical devices,
that ridicules the opposing opinion.