Logos in "Is it because I'm black" works really well in connection with the African American audience, but takes a lot of work to instill any sort of tangible relationship with the white audience. At the time of this song's release, social norms were still under going the slow change to what we now accept as normal, but people still had to adjust to the new laws and cultural ideas that were being introduced into American society. The lyrics in the song present a story that most African Americans were all to familiar with at the time of the song's release. The lines "Somebody tell me what can I do.. / Something is holding me back, is it because I'm black?" creates a bond with the African American audience because through the shared personal experience of being black, this audience struggled to find its footing in American society. The white audience didn't ever experience anything "holding them back" because they were white. This would imply that the appeals this song made to certain peoples' logos was lost.
-Louie
Overall you did a great job analyzing the logos of the song in regard to an African American audience. However, I'm not sure that I agree that the appeals in this song went over the heads of all white people. Just because those people they did not directly experience the struggles that African Americans did, I'd like to think that some felt sympathy for those struggles and as a result, decided to take more action to further the Civil Rights movement.
ReplyDelete-Taylor Rezeppa