Running Heading: WHERE DOES THE VIOLENCE START?

Where does the Violence Start?: Rhetorical Strategies in Traisters The Violence in Baltimore
Didnt Start with the Riots

Serigne Sock

Montgomery College

This paper is presented to Professor Storm for ENGL 102-#####

Running Heading: WHERE DOES THE VIOLENCE START?

Where does the violence Start?

The most common form of police misconduct in 2010 was excessive force, according to

the Cato Institute. Who will guard the guards, and who will watch the watchmen? This is a

question asked often in recent years due to many cases of police brutality. Author Rebecca

Traister discusses the effect that police brutality has on the community, more specifically the

shooting of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, which induced riots throughout the city. She claims it

isnt sensible to blame the effect of the violence without blaming the cause, which is police

brutality. Traister creates an effective article by appealing to pathos, thesis, and logos. She

creates pathos through appealing emotions of the reader, develops a strong thesis while

supporting the thesis, and logos by using evidence while showing causes and effect of the matter.

The article starts off heavy with the uses of pathos to appeal to the emotion of the reader.

the author describes her first time seeing the footage of the shooting of Freddie Gray. The

description used creates such a drastic lifeless image in the readers mind as she says Freddie

Gray being dragged limply into a police van in Baltimore. It was the first time Id seen the

imageswhich he cries out and his legs appear immobilized as police hoist him roughly from

the groundI went to sleep chilled (Trasiter,2015, Pg1). The description creates an image of

weakness and helplessness for the reader, showing that Freddie Gray was powerless in this

situation, and making Gray more of a victim in the situation. The author appeals to pathos even

more with the word choice used in her description when first witnessing the events. The author

uses words like dragged limply, immobilized, cries out, scared and sickened. All these words

create a negative connotation for the readers, making the reader feel even more for the tragic

events. These words put us as much as possible in the shoes of the victim, making us feel

This paper is presented to Professor Storm for ENGL 102-#####

Running Heading: WHERE DOES THE VIOLENCE START?

paralyzed and helpless, which makes us immobilized and scared. The author invokes anger,

sadness, and guilt in the reader at the end of the introduction where she says Violence broke out

and erupted not when students threw stones at police, but when Freddie Gray suffered a spinal

cord injury while in police custody, and, eventually, died. (Trasiter,2015, Pg 1 ). The author can

communicate these negative emotions by making the reader feel helpless and a victim through

the imagery created with the description of the event and also through the word choices used,

appealing to pathos.

The author has a main message in her article when stating that the violence over this

incident did not begin with riots, but instead first occurred when policemen violently hurt

Freddie Gray. The whole incident did not cause violence; it started because of violence. She

supports this statement by detailing what occurred during the arrest and afterwards. Rioting

occurred and spread throughout neighborhoods, but it was only a result and a response of people

after they had seen police brutality happen in front of them. The author suggested that the idea

that violence only started with riots came as a result of reporting, where reports only

acknowledged a one sided story. There was the fact that many did not consider the violence of

policemen on the same level as violence of civilians. She also added a viewpoint that many are

used to using, when an event or act is only considered important when people that are less

powerful attack people that are more powerful than them. Using ideas, facts, and details from the

shooting of Freddie Gray, the author proves her point about the violence starting with police

brutality.

The author effectively uses logos by using facts while showing causes and effect of the

matter. The author shows logos by explaining to the reader a logical account of how the violence

This paper is presented to Professor Storm for ENGL 102-#####

Running Heading: WHERE DOES THE VIOLENCE START?

seen in the riots does not occur for any apparent reason rather it comes as the effect of previous

violence. She says its important to consider how and where we mark the commencement of

violence The riots, as everyone recognizes, were a response to violence that had already been

enacted (Trasiter, 2015, Pg4). This shows the reader facts in matter through the idea of cause

and effect, and supports the authors claims that the violence of the protest did not start at the

protest. Adding further to the authors use of logos is how the author sticks with the facts of the

situation, using exact reports from news outlets when describing the riots. The article states

National guard troops are deployed in front of Baltimore City Hall after violence erupted in

the city Monday afternoon, began ABCs report (Trasiter,2015,Pg 3) This shows the readers that

the author is not writing to twist the words in media but to stick to facts surrounding the story.

The author also uses reasoning to discuss why people do not connect the violence of riots too

police brutality she says one of the reasons that people claim not to understand violent protest

is that it is too often and too easily treatedas thefirst move, when in fact it isnot the thing

that started it, but rather ameans of reacting to harm that has already been done by others

(Trasiter, 2015, Pg. 9 ). The author does not just tell the reader that people automatically

correlate violence with police brutality but suggest a reason behind as well.

Traister creates an effective article by using pathos, thesis, and logos. She creates pathos

through appealing emotions of the reader, develops a strong thesis while supporting the thesis,

and logos by using evidence while showing causes and effect of the matter. If people seek for the

violence to end, it is important to be cautious of the action that start it.

This paper is presented to Professor Storm for ENGL 102-#####

Running Heading: WHERE DOES THE VIOLENCE START?

Reference

Traister, R. (2015, April 28). The Violence in Baltimore Didn't Start with the Riots. Retrieved
February 13, 2017, fromhttps://newrepublic.com/article/121665/violence-didnt-start-baltimore-
riots

This paper is presented to Professor Storm for ENGL 102-#####