Entitled “Charlottesville’s Other Jim Crow Legacy: Segregated and Unequal Education,” the article explores the racial divide in the local community as it manifests itself in student attitudes and outcomes. Therefore, the text aims to solve the problem under consideration of the unfair treatment of two local students – Trinity and Zyakhna. The history is discussed with a detailed overview of the situation and historical context surrounding the emergence of racial segregation. Thus, it is important to disclose the article’s content and establish the problems of racial discrimination in schools.
The article may target different demographics as its audience but will most likely reach regular visitors to the ProPublica website. However, the target audience remains the uninformed residents of Charlottesville. It is important to note that the target audience includes parents of children who attend school and face racial inequality. The article acts as a manifesto that brings together people of all social strata who are concerned about the problems of a local or regional community to solve them.
Green and Waldman use many direct quotes from oppressed children, their parents, and teachers to persuade the audience and build trust between writers and readers. It helps to immerse yourself in the situation described in the article and penetrate deeper into the problem. The authors build their narrative consistently, coordinating various themes that support the main one. For example, Green and Waldman, when talking about participation in the Quest, support their data with Trinity’s statements to emphasize that children first feel inequality in themselves “since elementary school” (Green & Waldman, 2018). That allows you to build a logical chain of thoughts of the authors and creates a feeling in readers that they have come to the conclusions that the authors initially led.
In their article, Green and Waldman do not use direct emotional statements, thus separating themselves from what is described in the article and not highlighting the information as a personal opinion. At the same time, to maintain the level of injustice, the authors constantly insert direct quotes from the children interviewed. It shifts readers’ attention to their emotional state and allows them to understand the problem from the side of the oppressed.
The speaker agrees with the scientific nature and relevance of the issue. Green and Waldman (2018) present a historical legacy of Charlottesville that retains remnants of the Jim Crow laws that affect the life of the local community. Even after authorities were forced to admit black students to schools, discrimination persisted through other means. The authors then discuss how the issue mostly translates to enrollment in gifted programs that aim to feed students with in-depth learning materials (Green & Waldman, 2018). However, black students were “more than four times as likely to be held back a grade and almost five times as likely to be suspended out of school” (Green & Waldman, 2018). Thus, when discussing the underlying history and integration of the historical context of the emergence of segregation.
In conclusion, Green and Waldman’s text illustrates the need for a new wave of change in US public schools that will completely eradicate the problem of segregation. Some of the unintended audience may be attracted by the historical development of the local school environment, which has become a prerequisite for racial segregation. Others may review the statistical tables provided to verify the validity of the authors’ claims. However, the author uses the curiosity of the audience and the determination to change the existing situation, emphasizing the sense of urgency and providing additional information about the nature of the situation.
Reference
Green, E. L., & Waldman, A. (2018). Charlottesville’s other Jim Crow Legacy: Separate and Unequal Education. Web.