How Can Trayvon Martin NOT Appeal to Pathos?

We cannot kill children...
unless their wardrobe threatens our safety...
or the color of their skin makes me feel uncomfortable...
or how about if they get a little too close to my happy home?

Trayvon Martin was a boy. He was a son. He was a child. This popular photo of Trayvon Martin captured years before the unjust taking of his life depicted the innocence found in a life stolen too soon. A Black boy in a hoodie had somehow become a symbol of danger in America. However, the photo of Trayvon was seen as this in the eyes of many. An appeal to humanity found in all people brought upon feelings ranging from rage, for the fact that Black life seems to be disposable within our culture, to despair, in grieving for a life that had ended before it had a chance to start. To stare into the eyes of a child, regardless of his or her ethnicity invokes some type of emotion in all people. The sole image of a lone boy forces the viewer to acknowledge that this was a person and now he is gone. He no longer exists because his life was stolen. He no longer opens the eyes that you are looking into over a computer screen. He is now buried six feet under because of a deeply rooted prejudice that continues to grow within the soil of America. He is not the convoluted image of a thug that the media has created. He has a name, family, and home that he can never return to. Trayvon was just a Black boy who's fate had been determined by the color of his skin and let's not forget the threatening  hooded jacket. The same prejudice that killed Emmett Till has taken the life of Trayvon and will continue to take the lives of many more Trayvons.

-Ashley McNeill

Trayvon Martin's Image: An Unfortunate Appeal to Kairos

Following the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, photos of him as a child were released. These photos hearken back to the death of Emmett Till in that they both show smiling happy young boys. The kairos employed by releasing photos of Trayvon Martin wearing a hooded sweatshirt were meant to oppose the claims of the accuser George Zimmerman, that Trayvon Martin had challenged him in a physical altercation. This photo was heavily circulated as news outlets replayed Zimmerman's 911 call. The prevalence of the analyzed photo in the media as opposed to photos like this or this, made Trayvon Martin's innocence valid. The photo was also able to spark discussions about racial tensions in America. The photo of Martin, sprawled on his back on the floor was accidentally released during the trial. This photo was shown on news outlets like MSNBC and it further tugged at the heart strings of those who felt that Trayvon Martin was innocent. This "death photo" came out in the midst of the George Zimmerman trial and so it was able to polarize many peoples opinions on the events that led up to the murder. The photos were not released at the same time. Though the second photo was accidental, it aided in making the point that Trayvon Martin was another victim to racism. His lifeless body compared to his young and alive body provide stark contrasts to the late Trayvon Martin. Had the photos been released today, instead of in the midst of the murder investigation, they would certainly have stirred less controversy.  There have already been other young black men killed due to racism so the photos might not seen as, individually powerful as their are now. The latest victim, Michael Brown might still have taken the spotlight on the topic of racial discrimination.

-Lindsey Wright

The Perfect Timing of the Most Heart Wrenching Photo of All Time

There are not many things more tragic than the death of a child. In  1955 Emmett Till was murdered because he was a black boy flirting with a white woman. Though this injustice can be investigated in further detail, presently I will be analyzing the timing, or kairos, of the images released following Emmett Tills death. Till's funeral photo was released by "Jet", an African American magazine. This emotional photo was taken after Till's mother insisted that her son be given an open casket burial. The intensity of the beating perpetrated by two white men intensified the ongoing conversation of racism in America. In one photograph Emmett Till is beaten beyond recognition. His entire face is swollen and incredibly misshapen. Because people across the country could see the violent effect racism was having for kids as young as fourteen, the civil rights movement had a new driving force. The picture of Emmett Till before his beating utilizes good timing in that it shows the innocent child alive just months before racism robbed him of his innocence. Seeing Till's mutilated face rallied people, both blacks and whites, to march in protest against racial discrimination. Had Mamie Till decided to have a closed casket funeral, and had she decided to keep her sons face out of the media, many people would never had been affected by the horror that was Emmett Till's murder. The photo, taken on the most heart wrenching day of Mamie Till's life, was a catalyst for change in a country of people fed up with being treated as second class citizens. The horror of the description of Emmett Till's murder were swiftly matched with the shock of the photos that display just how malicious racism can be.

-Lindsey Wright