Every organization needs recruitment, especially if that organization is struggling to find employees and interest. This is especially apparent as one walks down the hallways of most schools and businesses. Business, school, and other companies’ flyers are everywhere, and they can be very important in the success of that organization. When analyzing flyers that are rhetorical texts, exigence, audience, and constraints are key components of a rhetorical text, and it is important to evaluate these points. A great example of a flyer that represents a rhetorical situation, is one I found on campus entitled, “Kaleidoscope is Hiring”. This flyer expresses a need for college- aged students to help young children with homework, after school activities, and mentoring. Thinking specifically about the problem here in Charleston, more schools are being added by the year, and teacher/mentor pay is not changing. This is a major problem for working teachers in the area, and a huge reason why the need is so large right now for help in these after-school programs such as Kaleidoscope. Aside from being a toy filled with color and illusion, a Kaleidoscope has come to mean finding beauty in small things, and taking the initiative to create beauty and “right” in our world. In reference to this flyer, Kaleidoscope is symbolizing the mentors in the program and people that give their time to help young students. This creates a sort of beauty in the school system and helps those in need.

This flyer is rhetorical, because there is a problem, which then creates an exigence, audience, and constraints. Exigence can be loosely defined as the reason for a rhetorical text. It can be the situation in which the text was created. For example, if a hurricane were to occur, the governor might decide that he or she needs to make a speech telling people to evacuate. The exigence would be the need for people to evacuate because of an upcoming hurricane. The audience is almost self explanatory. An audience is the group of people that the rhetorical text is meant for. If a flyer for a school play was put up, the audience would be students interested in theater, and even just every student that walks by the flyer. Constraints are anything that hinders or provides structure to a rhetorical situation or text. In the movie, “The King’s Speech”, some constraints on the king making the speech were his stutter, the closed room, the fact that the speech was put on the radio, and the fact that he could have his speech therapist with him in the room. Those both helped the situation, but also made it harder to handle.

In the case of a flyer, rhetoric has to be based on a certain situation for the flyer to be made in the first place. In Lloyd Bitzer’s article titled The Rhetorical Situation, he mentions that a rhetorical text comes into existence, “for the sake of something beyond itself; it functions ultimately to produce action or change in the world; it performs some task” (3). When a flyer is produced, the writer of that flyer had a reason to create that flyer– not only a reason, but a rhetorical exigence, which Bitzer thinks of as, “something waiting to be done” or “a thing that is other than it should be” (6). The exigence for the designer/writer of this flyer, is the need for mentors and role models for students in the CCSD’s Kaleidoscope program. The problem is that there are not enough mentors for these students; because there is something that is not right, as we saw in Bitzer’s article, there is a rhetorical exigence created. In the picture below, there is a big picture of young children smiling, which is effective in getting the message of the flyer across and drawing people’s attention in. After doing some research about mentoring and how relationships are created by mentors and young students, this rhetorical exigence created is effective and it is important for students who need them to have mentors. Sarah Schwarz talks about self-esteem and the key role that mentors play in self-esteem in her article titled, “Mentoring Relationships and Adolescent Self-Esteem”. She explains that children that have low self-esteem tend to experience positive development in their mood and experience after having the emotional support and guidance of mentors (8). This point makes a good case for the writer of the flyer, because knowing this information, the exigence, or problem, is weakened. If the exigence is the need for mentors, and people know this statistic about self-esteem in particular, they might be more inclined to help and sign up. Thinking specifically about the problem here in Charleston, more schools are being added by the year, and teacher/mentor pay is not changing. This is a major problem for working teachers in the area, and a huge reason why the need is so large right now for help in these after-school programs such as Kaleidoscope. While I do think that the exigence is strong, if the writer had included this fact on the flyer, it might have made the response even better.

The flyer includes a picture, pay scale, contact information, hours, and general information about the program

Many different kinds of people walk by flyer boards everyday: students, teachers, prospective students, and community members to name a few. With a flyer like this one for Kaleidoscope, it is important that the audience is a wide variety of people, since there are usually many flyers up around the walls. In this specific case, the audience of the flyer is students who go to classes in the building where the flyer is up, and who are able and willing to work with this program. Any person could walk by the flyer, notice it, and not give it any thought. Because the audience is relatively specific for every flyer, it has to grab the attention of the correct audience. Students who like to work with kids, who are exactly what the designer is looking for for the program, would notice this flyer immediately because of the huge picture of children in the middle of the page. To get even more specific, the designer was probably targeting studious, smart, caring students as well. The picture might capture most people, but only the exact students mentioned will reach out and contact the writer, because they know what it takes to work with children. The picture is a prime example of alignment and emphasis, because the designer chose for this image to be front and center on the flyer. In an article posted by digital printing about designing flyers, it is mentioned that a large picture can have more of an impact on the audience than a page full of words, and if it makes a connection with the audience, it is even more impactful (1). This is especially effective when the picture is of a group of cute children, and it is posted on a college campus. Examining the picture in more detail, there are many aspects about the children in the picture that make the audience more willing to help. Diversity, age, and expression are all key aspects to analyzing this. The children in the picture are of multiple different races, making the program seem inclusive and diverse. This is attractive for many people looking to work with a company. The age of the kids is also important because they seem to be elementary school-aged. Many people who work with children enjoy the company of small children, and this can be a draw in for much of the college-aged audience. Finally, the kids on the flyer are all smiling and looking excitingly into the camera leaning forward. Anyone who looks at this picture can assume the children in the Kaleidoscope program are happy and enjoy the program, so the atmosphere there must be happy, fun, and an overall positive place to work.  While there is a broad audience with many people involved, there is also the downside of large bulletin boards, and not being able to see all of the flyers.

A picture of a large bulletin board on a college campus

As you can see from the above picture, the bulletin board is crowded, and some of the flyers are hard to see because they are partially covered by other flyers. As this is the case with most college club boards, the Kaleidoscope flyer can be hardly seen. When I went to pick up the flyer, I had to move a few out the way to fully see the entire flyer. This is definitely not the case for all flyers, however seeing as though this flyer was on a bulletin board similar to this picture, the audience might have a little trouble responding to the exigence created by the designer. A possible solution for the designer would be to find a more empty space on the walls of the same buildings. Because the building location is good but the chosen wall is not as good, finding a blank wall with less flyers already up could help draw more attention to that specific flyer.

There are many possible constraints to any flyer being used as a form of rhetorical text. For example, in all flyers, the size of the actual poster is relatively small, and not much can fit. For this reason, designers have to choose wisely and put only the most important information, and the things that will catch their audiences’ eye the best.

Image from flyer about pay, hours, and contact information

On the Kaleidoscope flyer, the large picture was a good choice by the designer, and so was the need to put hours, contact information, and pay scale. Having the CCSD logo helps people know that the program is probably on the CCSD website and they can then go to the Kaleidoscope website, which gives even more information about the program and how to get involved. This helps people know if they are qualified for the job. These things are crucial when potential employees are looking into a job. Some of the first things people always want to know is how much they will get paid, and how flexible the hours are. This is especially true for college students looking for part-time jobs. It was also a good decision for the designer to add details about location. Because there are multiple locations, this is a positive thing for off-campus students. Another constraint to this specific flyer would be where it is located on campus. The flyer is on a bulletin board in an academic building, Maybank to be specific, which is strategic in catching the correct audience for the program. Most students have at least one class in Maybank, making this an effective place for a flyer. If the flyer were hung outside, or in the dining hall for example, it would not be as effective, because the people who saw it would not as likely be the audience the designer was looking for. Time of the year/student schedule is another big constraint to this flyer. Because it is displayed on campus in an academic building, many students are rushing to class and/or taking exams. If the flyer is put up during midterm or finals season, there would be less response to the flyer, because students aren’t focused on getting jobs, they are rather focused on passing exams. It would be crucial for the designer to know what times of year get most interaction with job flyers. Finally, the number of posters put up around campus can be important to audience response. If there are only a few in the academic buildings, there might be a good response because of the target audience, however it is smart to put some up in other places around campus as well. If they are outside, or in more public spaces, community members can see them and interact– not only the students.

This CCSD flyer for the after school mentoring program, Kaleidoscope, is overall an effective rhetorical text based on the effectiveness of the exigence, audience, and constraints. Because the problem of needing mentors and employees for this after school program is extreme, the rhetorical exigence is strong and the way the flyer was designed should create a positive response from the audience. While there were a few flaws in location for the audience, and many constraints to think about, the designer seemed to take these things into consideration when creating the flyer. They included a large picture to draw in prospective audience members, added important information while not making the flyer too full of words, and placed the flyer in a location where they can attract their target audience. As Bitzer said in his article, “the world really invites change” (13), and where there is a problem, there is always a solution. The want for help by the Kaleidoscope program illustrates this perfectly, and because the rhetorical text is so convincing, a solution is likely to be reached for the program.

Hillary Clinton’s speech as a rhetorical situation

The United States was forever changed June 10, 2016 when, at the time presidential democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton took the stage and spoke openly about reproductive justice.  Her memorable words left most of the country wondering what would happen once a new president was elected.  Rhetoric- or a rhetorical question- is meant to make a statement, not ask a real question, so when Clinton says, “do we want to put our health, our lives, our futures in Donald Trump’s hands” (Badanes)?  She isn’t actually asking the audience a question, she is making a powerful statement to try and convince people all over the United States to vote for her.  Clinton’s speech is so monumental since she is the first woman to be nominated for president.  Her rhetorical situation set the foundation for more female politicians to come out and talk about intense issues, such as reproductive justice.

 Lloyd Bitzer defines a rhetorical situation as “a natural context of persons, events, objects, relations, and an exigence which strongly invites utterance” (4).  Hillary Clinton’s reproductive rights speech responds to a rhetorical situation since a certain situation- the upcoming election- prompted her to speak for 26 minutes about an important social justice issue.  Every rhetorical situation must have exigence, an audience, and constraints.  The exigence consists of the reason the situation happens. It is what prompts rhetorical discourse.  The audience consists of only the people that can actually “do something” about the rhetorical situation.  The constraints consist of the rules and expectations that govern rhetorical discourse. 

   One of the several exigences in this rhetorical text is the fact that Clinton is running against a pro-life candidate, Donald Trump, in the 2016 presidential election.  Her speech is meant to address an urgent problem: Trump’s threat to reproductive rights.  When the situation is broken down though there could be a lot more.  Clinton’s essay consists of several exigences that structure the response, as Bitzer says, “in any rhetorical situation there will be at least one exigence which functions as the organizing principle: it specifies the audience to be addressed and the change to be effected”.  The exigence could also be Donald Trump’s views on reproductive rights or it could be simply promotional.  Since abortion rights are human rights and you would assume that citizens of country would want human rights, Hillary Clinton is using rhetoric to make herself seem like the ideal presidential candidate.  Clinton stresses the “idea that women should determine [their] own lives and futures” (Badanes). 

 While discussing the political efforts of reproductive justice as stated by Kimala Price, a writer for the Cambridge University Press, she says that “reproductive justice advocacy groups have attempted to queer reproductive justice by building coalitions and developing a shared agenda between the new movements.  The recent election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States has presented a different set of challenges to this process” (581).  Funding for reproductive justice organizations has gone up due to the fact that a pro-lifer could be, and was, elected president.  As Clinton mentions in her speech about how “we’ve got to get to work.  Because as you know better than anyone, right now, across the country, rights that women should be able to take for granted are under attack” (Badanes).  This quote is a reference to the work that we, as Americans, are going to have to do to protect women’s rights.

   A claim is a statement where the writer conveys a belief or interpretation about something.  Clinton’s claim is that she would be the better president than opposing candidate  Donald Trump because she believes that abortion rights are human rights.  Her evidence to that claim is stating simple facts such as “anyone who wants to defund Planned Parenthood, and wipe out safe, legal abortion has no idea what’s best for women” (Badanes). The warrant, or what ties the claim and the evidence together, is the fact that she stood up in front of Planned Parenthood and gave a speech about reproductive rights.

  The audience is directly the Planned Parenthood Action Fund members, as seen when Clinton says, “I’m grateful to the entire Planned Parenthood family.  You made this campaign your own.  Whether you knocked on doors in Iowa or rallied in California, this victory belongs to all of you” (Badanes).  Technically though, the audience is also the entire nation since the speech was broadcasted to the citizens of the United States to help her presidential campaign.  The speech was broadcasted through newspapers, television, and the internet, so it was available to anyone with access.  The audience is rhetorical since Hillary is influencing them and trying to persuade them to vote for her in the upcoming election.  The audience is linked to one of the many exigencies- the outcome of the election.  The audience’s response is structured by the constraints, the same way that the response structures the constraints. For example, the audience’s response is formed by the manner in which Clinton talks about the abortion issue.

   Lastly the constraints are the speech time limit (she took 26 minutes), the tension between pro-life vs pro-choice americans, how the speech was communicated (via tv, radio, newspaper, internet), and by the way that she is supposed to act respectful and professional way since she is running against Donald Trump who is usually loud and aggressive.  The most “important” constraint that I noticed was how Clinton stayed professional and somewhat composed while she was talking about such a controversial issue.  She had to use a professional tone and use more mature vocabulary to remain how a presidential candidate should be.  While watching the speech and analyzing Clinton’s tone and body language, the emphasis she put on specific words and her forwardness truly helped her get her point across.  She often gestures to the audience, asking them rhetorical questions and making sure they know how intense the situation that she is talking about is.  She also uses jokes and light humor to lighten the tense mood.

 Openly stating that she supports Planned Parenthood puts Clinton exactly opposite from her competitor, which is as much as a good thing as a liability.  Voters that are pro-choice will see her rhetoric and be confident in their choice to make her president, while pro-life voters will be confident in their choice to vote for Donald Trump.  You could argue that the speech itself has a form of bias to it.  Clinton is speaking about reproductive justice to a room of people that work for, or donate to, an organization that centers around reproductive rights.  Even though the speech has the possibility of reaching every citizen of the United States, it is mainly directed towards pro-choice americans. 

 The ethos (credibility) would be the fact that Hillary Clinton is a woman and that she was the secretary of state so therefore has experience in political issues.  The pathos (emotion) would be the tense topic discussed and how it made the audience feel.  The logos (logic) would be Hillary choosing to discuss abortion knowing it would bring in a new pro-choice group of voters.  The three combine to create this ideal rhetorical triangle that aids in bringing forward effective communication.

What is discussed in this rhetorical situation is ongoing.  SB 8, a new abortion law in Texas outlawing almost all abortions, was recently a big topic of discussion in the news.  Luckily, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman temporarily blocked the ruling (NPR).  This was a major relief to Texas women.  Clinton’s rhetorical situation led to many Americans asking themselves what values they want in their president and how, in the long run, these values will impact them.

Hillary Clinton’s speech on reproductive justice was effective- to an extent.  The speech helped inform Americans on the importance of protecting reproductive rights, yet it wasn’t enough to secure her presidency.  Most of her actions stood to oppose Trump’s actions, for example her speaking at a Planned Parenthood Fund while he spoke at the March for Life, this led to an interesting campaign dynamic.  Hillary Clinton “pledged to continue to call out anti-abortion politicians on their hateful rhetoric and stand up to the Congressional attacks on women’s health and rights” (Badanes).

Works cited

Badanes, Steffi. “Hillary Clinton Delivers Powerful Speech On Reproductive Justice to Planned Parenthood Action Fund Members.” Planned Parenthood Action Fund, 9 July 2019,www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/blog/hillary-clintons-speech-planned-parenthood-action-fund-members.

Bitzer. “College of Charleston Libraries Off-Campus Access.” The Rhetorical Situation, 1992, login.nuncio.cofc.edu/login?qurl=https://www.jstor.org%2fstable%2f40237697%3fseq%3d1#metadata_info_tab_content+s.

“Hillary Clinton’s Entire Planned Parenthood Speech.” YouTube, 10 June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-5ZVHcm-2M.

“NPR Cookie Consent and Choices.” A U.S. Judge Blocks Enforcement of Texas’ Controversial New Abortion Law, 6 Oct. 2021, choice.npr.org/index.html?origin=https://www.npr.org/2021/10/06/1040221171/a-u-s-judge-blocks-enforcement-of-texas-controversial-new-abortion-law.

Orr, Gabby. “Trump Sets a New GOP Standard in the Abortion Fight.” POLITICO, 25 Jan. 2020, www.politico.com/news/2020/01/24/march-for-life-trump-abortion-speech-103994.

Price, Kimala. “Queering Reproductive Justice in the Trump Era: A Note on Political Intersectionality.” Politics & Gender, vol. 14, no. 4, 2018, pp. 581–601., doi:10.1017/S1743923X18000776.

“This is America”: Analyzing the Rhetorical Situation 

As can be seen over the past few years, the media has had a great influence on what Americans believe. When it comes to gun violence in America, the media often displays black people as the aggressors when truthfully, they are the ones most likely to be targeted due to the unspoken racism in America. Even when actions are done in self-defense, the black community is likely to be misrepresented, as seen with the Black Lives Matter protests. Donald Glover, commonly known as Childish Gambino, challenges people to reevaluate their ideas revolving around gun violence and race in regards to the black community. To produce a song that would gain mainstream media attention while also addressing this complex issue, Glover had to take careful consideration of the rhetorical situation and all its factors. 

Lloyd Bitzer redefined the term “rhetorical situation” and its supporting terms such as exigence, audience, and constraints. Bitzer describes a rhetorical situation as a creation of discourse and specifies that the discourse occurs “because of some specific condition or situation which invites utterance” (4). Bitzer also goes into great detail when defining the factors of a rhetorical situation which are the exigence, audience, and constraints. Exigence is defined by Bitzer as an issue that can be changed and is marked by a sense of urgency (6-7). Bitzer stresses the importance that “an exigence that cannot be modified is not rhetorical” (6). The audience of a rhetorical situation is anyone can cause a change in reference to the exigence (Bitzer 7). Anyone who views the rhetorical situation is a part of an audience; however, they must have the ability to modify the exigence in order to be a part of the rhetorical audience. The last factor of any rhetorical situation is the constraints. Bitzer defines constraints as being “made up of persons, events, objects, and relations which are part of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence” (8). There are a number of different things that act on an exigence as constraints for every rhetorical situation. Lloyd Bitzer’s descriptions of exigence, audience, and constraints help to illustrate and redefine the term “rhetorical situation.” 

Figure 1: Opening Scene (Time)

“This is America”, recorded by David Glover, made headlines with its shocking juxtaposition of scenes of violence and scenes of joy (“Genius Absurdity”). One of the most famous scenes from the video depicts Glover shooting a hooded man in the back of the head while he is strapped to a chair. This is likely in reference to the past when slaves would be lynched; however, Glover is addressing how lynching has evolved into gun violence against the black community. Many people have also made this connection since Glover’s stance is ”reminiscent of Thomas Rice, the original Jim Crow” (Craven). This graphic symbolism and the many other examples shown throughout the video make viewers uncomfortable, which is exactly what Glover intended for it to do.  Donald Glover uses “This Is America” as a way to challenge viewers’ ideas on the issue and to show them that the people of the black community are too often the targets of gun violence strictly due to their race. 

Figure 2: Glover prior to shooting choir (Time)

While there are many different interpretations of the viral video, “This Is America” has one issue it clearly addresses. The music video brings attention to the issues of racially charged gun violence in America, which serves as the rhetorical exigence of the piece. By addressing this major issue through complex symbolism, Glover forces viewers to reassess their thoughts and actions regarding the topic of racism based on their individual interpretation of the video. Another reason this exigence is rhetorical is that it has a sense of urgency, something Bitzer describes as an important characteristic of any exigence. Many people have already formed their own opinions regarding gun violence and race, some of which have done so subconsciously. Research has shown that “anxieties about insanity and gun violence are imbued with often unspoken anxieties about race, politics, and the unequal distribution of violence in American society” (Metzl). As gun violence continues to rapidly grow in America, the black community is “disproportionately impacted by gun violence” which is why Donald Glover felt the need to address this issue in his song “This Is America” (Everytown Research and Policy). This differs from what most people believe and what the media presents, which is that black people are typically the ones pulling the trigger. In this short video, Donald Glover delivered his exigence to millions of people, and likely changed the minds of many of them as well. 

Most rhetorical situations usually have a specific audience they reach. However, the rhetorical audience of this piece is simply anyone who watches the video. While one may argue that this definition of the audience is too simple, Bitzer describes the audience as anyone who can invoke change. With the video’s ability to provoke the thought and emotions of the people who view it, the video allows anyone the ability to reevaluate their stance on racially charged violence in America. Simply by modifying their stance on this issue, anyone is able to make a change in many various ways. Change starts by calling out the media’s common misrepresentation which leads people to have racist opinions on gun violence. These opinions can cause people to act more intensely on them when in a confrontation with a person of color. “This is America” has a very wide rhetorical audience since everyone has the ability to reevaluate their beliefs and their actions based on their beliefs after watching the video. 

Many constraints worked against Donald Glover and his team when creating “This Is America”. The first, and most obvious constraint, is time. Most music videos are under five minutes long, including “This Is America” which is four minutes and five seconds. Glover had to keep this in mind when creating the video since most people will not watch a music video over five minutes long. With this short time frame, Glover had to figure out how to incorporate all of the symbolism he had in mind. The constant change of scenery in an effort to fit everything into the four-minute and five-second video shows that he was successful in this feat. Although the video mainly served as a way to challenge viewers’ ideas on gun violence, Glover still wanted people to enjoy the song. Glover had to find a way to send a message while also creating a song that people would like to listen to it on repeat. If people liked the song, this also meant the message written in the song would be spread to more people as well. Donald Glover accomplished this by creating an entertaining and everchanging beat in the background as well as using a popular genre of singing: rap. In 2018, 21.7% of music Americans consumed was rap while pop stood at 20.1%, making these genres the most popular of the year (Statista Research Department). Glover’s popular beat has more of an upbeat feel while the lyrics discuss the idea of partying, which could be described as shallow but is specifically used to illustrate how we ignore racially charged gun violence and try to continue on with living happy lives. The lyrics during the rap beat discuss gun violence against the black community by police officers and the high number of gun violence incidents in black communities. They also draw attention to common black stereotypes non-people of color hold such as that people of color are more likely to break the law, be violent people, and are poor and will do anything necessary to make money. By strategically shifting between these two genres during scenes of violence and tying in complex issues and stereotypes into his lyrics, Glover addresses the issue of racially charged gun violence in America in a way that is intriguing yet entertaining to listeners. These two constraints, a relatively short time length and attractive musical elements, helped to contribute to the number of people who watched the video, adding to the rhetorical audience. 

Figure 3: Glover dancing amid violence (Time)

“This is America” has depictions of violence and gore throughout the entire video. The amount of violence that could be depicted for the video to still be shared on mainstream media platforms serves as another constraint for the video. The violence serves to successfully confront people will the realities of racial gun violence and provide real-world references. While it is an important aspect, due to the community guidelines on popular video platforms, the violence had restrictions on how detailed it could be. If the violence and gore had been too detailed or contained too much blood, the video would be restricted only for mature viewers, or even taken down from platforms. “This is America” has over 798 million views which would not be possible if YouTube had taken the video down due to community guideline violations. While Glover could have decided to film a video without violence, it would not have been as popular as it was and he could not effectively get his message across to the people without it. This was one of the most major constraints Donald Glover, or anyone would have when filming a video about the issue of gun violence. 

One reason “This is America” received so much national attention was because of the shocking symbolism throughout the video. While some symbols are obvious with their meanings, with others some people don’t even recognize them as symbols. One of the most obvious references in the video is to the shooting at the AME Church in Charleston, SC. In one scene in “This Is America”, Glover enters a room where a ten-person choir is singing along and clapping to the upbeat music while Glover joins in the celebration as well. Quickly, Glovers mood shifts when he is handed a large gun with which he proceeds to turn around and shoot the choir dead. This references the famous AME Church shooting when a white supremacist shot and killed nine black church members. This real-world reference illustrates one of the many examples of black people being the targets of gun violence solely because of their race. This shooting made headlines about the need to address and change the amount of gun violence against the black community. The use of references to sensitive events and topics through the depiction of violence is one of the reasons “This Is America” received so much mainstream attention. Some scenes, such as the shooting of the choir, were shocking to viewers to see these sensitive topics depicted in that way but this was necessary to get people to reevaluate their beliefs on the issue of racially charged gun violence. While many references were obvious, others were much more complex. The more complex references, some of which have been discovered while some have not, left viewers wondering and thinking, causing them to think about the video’s message more deeply. In “This Is America”, Glover addressed the issue of gun violence against the black community by shocking and provoking the thoughts of viewers. 

“This is America” received national attention. Many videos and articles have been made analyzing almost every object in the video and it even became a trend for people to film and post their reaction when watching the video the first time. This alone illustrated how the video accomplished David Glover’s goal of it being seen by a large number of people. It is also evident in the articles and reaction videos that Glover challenged viewers’ minds. This widespread coverage also contributed to the conversation surrounding racially charged gun violence, which is exactly what Donald Glover was attempting to do. “This is America” successfully responds to the rhetorical situation through discourse. 

Donald Glover addresses the complex issue of gun violence against the black community through the use of sophisticated symbolism and by leaving the video to be uniquely analyzed by each individual viewer. “This is America” created discussion and debate on the issue of racially charged violence in America and how it unfairly targets the black community. Through shocking real-world references and entertaining musical elements, Glover created a song, that when analyzed, brought attention to racially charged gun violence in a way that had never been done before. By successfully addressing his rhetorical situation in each level of exigence, audience, and constraint, Glover produced a nationally headlined music video that received millions of views. In 2018, “This is America” started a much-needed discussion on racially charged gun violence in America and challenged and changed the minds of many viewers. 

Works Cited 

Bitzer, Lloyd F. “The Rhetorical Situation.” Philosophy & Rhetoric, vol. 25, Penn State University Press, 1992, pp. 1-14, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40237697 

Craven, Julia. “Donald Glover’s ‘This Is America,’ Through the Eyes of a Jim Crow Historian.” Huff Post, 9 May 2019, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-glover-this-is-america-jim-crow-history_n_5af31588e4b00a3224efcc40. 

Everytown Research and Policy. “Impact of Gun Violence on Black American.” Everytown, https://everytownresearch.org/issue/gun-violence-black-americans/. Accessed 7 Oct 2021 

Gambino, Childish. “Childish Gambino- This Is America (Official Video).” YouTube, uploaded by Donald Glover, 6 May 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY 

Metzl, Jonathan M. “Gun violence, stigma, and mental illness: clinical implications.” Psychiatric Times, vol. 32, no. 3, Mar. 2015, p. 54. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A405023798/AONE?u=cofc_main&sid=bookmark-AO.NE&xid=6ffbc87c. Accessed 7 Oct. 2021. 

Statista Research Department. “Share of Total Music Album Consumption* in the United States in 2018, by Genre.” Statista, Jan 2019, https://www.statista.com/statistics/310746/share-music-albums-sales-us-genre/. Accessed 15 Oct 2021. 

“This is America: Childish Gambino’s Genius Absurdity.” YouTube, uploaded by Make Stuff, 2 Aug 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HfsU07jHis 

Link to Word Document: Morgan RSA Final Draft

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