Villanueva, "On the Rhetoric and Precedents of Racism"

I enjoyed reading Dr. Villanueva’s essay, “On the Rhetoric and Precedents of Racism.” My favorite element of the essay was the inclusion of real world anecdotes and examples. He was able to make his points more effectively by providing his readers with situations and people they could identify with. Many of these anecdotes and examples appealed to pathos, making me as a reader feel emotional about instances of racism I was completely unaware of prior to this reading. For example, he shares the stories of two children covering themselves in flour to appear white, of Mexican women denied bathroom breaks during work, and of a Chinese man shot dead because the police feared he might fight back with martial arts.

There were also several appeals to logos in the use of statistics to represent disproportion. Through the use of numbers, Villanueva shows how people of color appear less in academic journals than whites, are often poorer than whites, and do not achieve higher education as often as whites. He also looks specifically at his own academic field, noting that 92% of CCCC members are white.

Villanueva appeals to ethos by sharing personal stories as well. He describes his encounter with the principal at his daughter’s school who claimed he had solved the racism problem at the school. He also shares his story of having publications turned down by journal editors because his work addressed issues they were unwilling to cover. The combination of his appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos makes this a well-written piece with a strong message that racism is engrained in our society’s structure. We must recognize that and become more open to lessons that do not originate from the traditional European thinkers.

I think the two stories in the opening of the essay were included to help make the argument that there is value in other cultures besides Western culture. While Villanueva comments on his appreciation and admiration of classical Western rhetoricians such as Aristotle and Cicero, he is calling us to search for others outside this Western boundary. He is perhaps suggesting that the classical Western rhetoricians have added to the racism of our world because they are part of the structure that has been built into our upbringing. Perhaps, if we studied other kinds of rhetoric besides Western, we would help break the structure of focusing on European ways of thinking.

Questions:

1.     What example/anecdote did you find most moving in the essay? What emotions did it make you feel?

2.     Do you agree that by studying only the classical Western rhetoricians we are adding to the structure of racism?