Article Link: http://news.yahoo.com/tens-thousands-police-expected-funeral-slain-n-y-101907635.html
Recently, a 43 year-old father named Eric Garner was killed in the streets of New York because he was put in a chokehold. He was in the process of being arrested for selling unlicensed cigarettes (also known as loosies), but was soon put in a chokehold by a group of NYPD police officers for refusing the arrest. The chokehold didn't last very long, and with the evidence from the video that was recorded during the situation, one can see that he died due to his reoccurring problem with asthma, as he is seen shouting "I can't breathe" a few times. Months later, two police officers who were involved in the arrest that led to the death of Garner named Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were killed assassination style by an angry man who was bewildered and angered by the innocent death of Eric Garner.
Mayor Bill De Blasio of New York recently spoke at the funerals of the deceased police officers. During the funeral of the two slain police officers (Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos), Mayor De Blasio delivered a eulogy, addressing the tragedy. In his eulogy, De Blasio uses a number of techniques to appeal to not only the families and friends of the deceased, but to people all over America through the media that covered the funeral. With most of the NYPD police officers turning their backs on De Blasio during the funeral of Officer Ramos, De Blasio gave a carefully thought out speech full of appeals and techniques in order to convey to people involved from both sides of the tragedy for Officer Liu's funeral.
De Blasio's speech had an array of techniques used to convey to the audience. From parallelism to anaphora, De Blasio uses words to make the people look as if they are unified and equal in this situation. In the beginning of his speech during Liu's funeral, De Blasio states that Liu "…walked a path of courage, a path of sacrifice, and a path of courage.” In the course of this speech, De Blasio started choking up a little, almost like he was tearing up and was personally saddened by Liu's death. The choice of his words seemed to praise Liu and the emotional appeal that he used in order to display pathos, was used to reach to the audience. Additionally, De Blasio used a technique called anaphora which is the use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition. In De Blasio's speech, he states that “All of this city is feeling the pain right now, and all of this city wants to lift up the Liu family and the Ramos family.” He uses this technique and repeats the word "all" several times in order to make the death of these two police officers seem very personal and close to his heart, to convey to the audience that they are all going through the pain and mourning together of the two deaths together.
The exigency of this speech is prominent and notable due to the recent spur of protests and debates about discrimination of the African-American race and their negative interactions and involvements with police officers. During the highly increasing incidents of young African-American men being killed by police officers, Mayor DeBlasio has been reported to have told his biracial son to be careful around police officers. During the 2013 campaign for office, De Blasio also opposed against some police tactics (including the stop-and-frisk policy) that are used with African-Americans and among other minority groups. These actions have led many members of the NYPD to believe that DeBlasio does not support the officers or their actions, causing some police officers at Ramos' funeral to turn their back against Mayor De Blasio during his speech. Through Mayor De Blasio's well thought-out speech, he has portrayed himself as almost a fatherly figure for the people of NYC at their time of mourning. He displays himself as a man who is compassionate and supportive of the New York Police Department and is very understanding of the department as a whole and their daily acts of heroism.
Recently, a 43 year-old father named Eric Garner was killed in the streets of New York because he was put in a chokehold. He was in the process of being arrested for selling unlicensed cigarettes (also known as loosies), but was soon put in a chokehold by a group of NYPD police officers for refusing the arrest. The chokehold didn't last very long, and with the evidence from the video that was recorded during the situation, one can see that he died due to his reoccurring problem with asthma, as he is seen shouting "I can't breathe" a few times. Months later, two police officers who were involved in the arrest that led to the death of Garner named Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were killed assassination style by an angry man who was bewildered and angered by the innocent death of Eric Garner.
Mayor Bill De Blasio of New York recently spoke at the funerals of the deceased police officers. During the funeral of the two slain police officers (Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos), Mayor De Blasio delivered a eulogy, addressing the tragedy. In his eulogy, De Blasio uses a number of techniques to appeal to not only the families and friends of the deceased, but to people all over America through the media that covered the funeral. With most of the NYPD police officers turning their backs on De Blasio during the funeral of Officer Ramos, De Blasio gave a carefully thought out speech full of appeals and techniques in order to convey to people involved from both sides of the tragedy for Officer Liu's funeral.
De Blasio's speech had an array of techniques used to convey to the audience. From parallelism to anaphora, De Blasio uses words to make the people look as if they are unified and equal in this situation. In the beginning of his speech during Liu's funeral, De Blasio states that Liu "…walked a path of courage, a path of sacrifice, and a path of courage.” In the course of this speech, De Blasio started choking up a little, almost like he was tearing up and was personally saddened by Liu's death. The choice of his words seemed to praise Liu and the emotional appeal that he used in order to display pathos, was used to reach to the audience. Additionally, De Blasio used a technique called anaphora which is the use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition. In De Blasio's speech, he states that “All of this city is feeling the pain right now, and all of this city wants to lift up the Liu family and the Ramos family.” He uses this technique and repeats the word "all" several times in order to make the death of these two police officers seem very personal and close to his heart, to convey to the audience that they are all going through the pain and mourning together of the two deaths together.
The exigency of this speech is prominent and notable due to the recent spur of protests and debates about discrimination of the African-American race and their negative interactions and involvements with police officers. During the highly increasing incidents of young African-American men being killed by police officers, Mayor DeBlasio has been reported to have told his biracial son to be careful around police officers. During the 2013 campaign for office, De Blasio also opposed against some police tactics (including the stop-and-frisk policy) that are used with African-Americans and among other minority groups. These actions have led many members of the NYPD to believe that DeBlasio does not support the officers or their actions, causing some police officers at Ramos' funeral to turn their back against Mayor De Blasio during his speech. Through Mayor De Blasio's well thought-out speech, he has portrayed himself as almost a fatherly figure for the people of NYC at their time of mourning. He displays himself as a man who is compassionate and supportive of the New York Police Department and is very understanding of the department as a whole and their daily acts of heroism.