DOCUMENT RESUME

10 099 905 .CS 500 895

AUTHOR Johnson, James, Ed.; And OthersTITLE Conference in Rhetorical Criticism; Commended Papers

(4th, Hayward, Calif., May 1969)0,INSTITUTION California State coll., Hayward'. Dept. of Speech and

Drama.PUB DATE . 69

NOTE 31p.

EDP'S PRICE HF-$0.75 K-81.85 PLUS POSTAGEDESCRIPTORS *African American Studies; Biographies;

*Communication (Thought TranSfer);,Debate; HigherEducation; Negro Culture; Negroes; *PersuasiveDiscourse; Rhetoric; *Rhetorical Criticism; SpeechEducation;. Violence

IDENTIFIERS Astor (Nancy); Bunche (Ralph); Carmichael (Stokely);Cleaver (Eldridge);A:sebs (Eugene)

ABSTRACTAt the fourth annual cal-State Hayward Conference it

Rhetorical. Criticism, 25 upper division and graduate students from 11

western colleges and universities presented papers on rhetoricaltheory, history, and criticism. Panels of faculty members from thesate colleges and universities, acting as editor-critics, rated fiveof these papers as superior, and they are included in this volume.The titles and authors are: "A Rhetorical Criticism of an Old NegroLeader" by Paul H. Arnston, "Rhetorical Implications of 'Soul on .

Ice," by Steve R. Dowd, "The Spirit of Nancy Astor" by Kathleen .

ROW, "Eugene V. Debs--A Case of Rhetorical Failure" by Verna L.Ouirino and "Stokely Carmichael Jazz Artist" by Larry Richardson. Theconference address by Everett Lee Hunt, "The Rhetoric of Violence,"is also included in this volume. (TO)

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u.S. DU PARTMENT OF ticAk-TH.OPUCATIC94 yippARINATIONM, 94STITUTII OP

epUgATIONTHIS DOCUMENT HAS SEEN REPROPUCOP EXACTLY AS RECEIVED PROMTHE PERSON OR OROANI/ATION ORIGINATM° IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONSSTATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPROSENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OFEDUCATION POSITiGN OR POLICY

Conference in Rhetorical Criticism

Commended Papers

James Johnson, Editor

John Hammerback, Bruce Loebs, Assitant Editors

California State College. Hayward 1969

Cover Design by Ivan Hess

BRUT&

Mr. Richardson, whose paper

appears on pages 2144, is a

graduate student at Washington

State University.. . .

Professor Howard Streitford

represented San Jose State College.

Professor D. E. Mbore represented

Sacramento State College,

Professor Don Cameron represented

San Fernando Valley State College.

Professor Henry tGuckinrepresented San Francisco StateCollege.

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FOREWORD

On May 10, 1969, the Speech and Drama Department and Creative ArtsDivision Council of California State College, Hayward, held the Fourth AnnualConference in Rhetorical Criticism. In attendance were professors and twenty-five upper division and graduate students from seventeen colleges and univer-sities of the western states. This year we were also honored with the partici-pation of representatives from Park College in Missouri, invited as specialguests. The students read papers on rhetorical theory, history, and criticismin six sections to panels of professors acting as editor-critics. The five papersin this volume are rated superior by the editor-critics.

Our featured speaker at this year's conference was Everett Lee Hunt,Ilofessor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus at Swarthmore College. Dr. Hunt adaptedhis background and wisdom to a discussion of "The Rhetoric of Violence." Thistimely and significant subject was met with great interest and enthusiasm by hisaudience. Included in this volume is the text of Dr. Hunt's bangle t address.

We have attempted to transcribe, as accurately as possible, the completetext of Dr. Hunt's ackliess. The introductory remarks of Dr. Hunt were extempo-rized, and minor adjustments were made in readying the spoken word for thewritten page. We are indebted to Dr. Hunt for his cooperation in preparing thefinal text.

The influence and stature of Everett Lee Hunt in the field of rhetoric cannotbe described adequately on these pages, Our respect and admiration of Dr. Huntis such that we wish to dedicate this volume to him. Many words of praise wereaccorded to Dr. Hunt on May 11, 1969, but perhaps the most eloquent phrase ofthat evening was, "He is truly one of the beautiful people among us."

Student and Faculty Participants

STUDENT PARTICIPANTS

Arntson, Paul H.Backus, l3ickyBundy, KenDillon, MikeDowd, Stephen R.Flake, Joel A.Goodman, RonHuber, KathleenJohnson, James L.Keaton, HerbertKilso, JamesLawyer, GaryMaynard, Renee

Professors:

Quail, JoanQuirin, VernaRichardson, LarryRose, D. K.Shama, Lyle EricShoemaker, Kenneth K.Sorenson, DeeTribulato, RosemaryWilcox, David E.Woodson, Robert J.Yinger, WinthropZanger, Laura

EDITOR-CRITICS

Baird, John E., Cal State, HaywardBenjamin, Robert, San Diego State CollegeCain, Earl. Cal State, Long BeachCambus, John, Cal State, HaywardCampbell, Karlyn, Cal State, Los AngelesCrowell, Laura, University of WashingtonDolph, Phil, San Jose State CollegeEricson, Jon, Central Washington State CollegeFulkerson, William, Fresno State CollegeGeeting, Baxter, Sacramento State CollegeHammerback, John, Cal State, HaywardHauth, Luster, Cal State, Long BedchHite, Roger, University of OregonLarson, Harold C., Northern Arizona UniversityLewis, Albert, University of California, DavisMc Edwards, Mary, San Fernando Valley State College

Miller, Arthur B., Park CollegeMills, Glen E., University of California, S, B.

Natharius, David, Fresno State CollegePeterson, Gary L., Brigham Young UniversityStrother, David, Washington State UniversityWunder, Phillip, San Jose State CollegeWurthum, Leonard, San Fernando Valley State College

iv

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

9:30 Briefing Music Building 82105

10:00 Critics' Silent Review of Papers in Sections(See Section Schedule)

10:00 "1969 Begins" in 82105

12:00 Box Lunch in Music Patio

1:00 Resentation of Papers in SectionsPresentationComments of Editor-CriticsDecision for Commendation and Publication

4:00 Reading to Entire Conference of CommendedPapers

Music Building, B2105

5:30-7:00 No-host social hour, Norse Room,Doric Motel

7:30 Dinner: Cal State Cafeteria

Introducing the Speaker: Dr. Robert D. Clark,Presiders , San Jose State College

Speaker: Dr. Everett Lee Hunt,Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus,Swarthmore College

"The Rhetoric of Violence"

Contents

Address of the Conference

Dr. Everett Lee Hunt "The Rhetoric of Violence"

Page

1

Commended Papers of the Conference

Paul H. Arntson "A Rhetorical Criticism of An Old Negro Leader" 6

Steve R. Dowd "Rhetorical Implications of Soul On Ice" 10

Kathleen Huber "The Spirit of Nancy Astor" 14

Verna L. Quirin "Eugene V. Debs A Case of Rhetorical Failure" 17

Larry Richardson "Stokley Carmichael Jazz Artist" 21

vi

THE RHETORIC OF VIOLENCE

by

Dr. Everett Lee Hunt

Mr. Chairman, President Clark,

May I express a very deep'sympathy with you siryou have recounted here that, quite unwillingly, you hadto depart from teaching English literature and get intothe field of speech and rhetoric. And I quite unwilling-ly had to depart from the field of speech and rhetoricand was exiled to the teaching of English literatureDaughteD. So we are fellow exiles and have tried tofind, as best we could, some comfort in that field whichwe still hold an interest in. I think, both of us perhapshave sunk still lower I'm not as high as he is for wehave become administrators and therefore no longer ableto keep up that scholastic fervor which we had as youngmen..

And may I mention the preen nce here of Harry Caplan,who was a speaker here on this occasion last year.It's been nearly fifty years ago now since we started aclassical rhetoric seminar at Cornell. And certainly Idon't think either one of us ever suspected that somefifty years later, out here in the West, we should be atthe same meeting celebrating rhetoric and rememberingthose days when we never had any idea what future thatsubject had for us. And I know that there are some whosay, well it has more of a past than a future becauseanything ancient is irrelevant. Hut it remains verystrange that Professor Caplan has requests to come allover the country, to teach the classical tradition inrhetoric. There does seem to be a continuing belief init And so it is a great comfort to me to have him heretonight and t o be with him here on this occasion.

The present extent of violence in our country is sodramatic that any discussion other than "what do we donow" is likely toseem, I think. a little dull and irrele-vant. But I want to begin by asking some of the ques-tions that have arisen in my mind as I survey the scene.And I wish I could say to you that I am going to answerall these questions, but many questions that arise inmy mind are not readily answerable by me, and so Ipass them on to you in the full confidence that you willanswer them easily and quickly, and if there were timefor discussion you could correct me, I'm sure.

Let me just read a list of these questions withoutstopping even to attempt an answer here, but I dodiscuss them, partially at least, a little later in my

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paper. And the first one is: When is violence persuasivein producing significant social change? And I think if youreflect on the events of the last six months you'll havedifferent answers to that at different times. Second, ifviolence is persuasive, does that put it within the fieldof rhetoric? When you think of rhetoric as finding allthe available means of persuasion, is violence an avail-able means of persuasion? And if we regard it as a partof rhetoric is it strictly a new rlietofic or does it goback to the old traditions? Is it a new rhetoric becauseits exponents seem to come mostly from the new youth?If it is a new rhetoric does it have any relation whateverto the old? Does it have any underlying philosophieswhich are to any extent different from the philosophiesunderlying rhetoric of the ancient ages past? Does itpresent to us any social programs that may be judgedrationally? Does the conservatism of our present estab-lishment justify the abandonment of all appeals toreason? Can a study of the rhetoric of violence stim-ulate the non-violent discussion of the same issueswhich are raised sometimes in the defense of violence?

Well, I think I should say that these questions sounda little academic and they may seem to indicate what istrue, that I am trying to outline something of a programfor study rather than a platform for immediate action. IfI were competent to do it I would like to propose a plat-form for action and go out of here with a sense of yoursupport. Since I'm not competent I would like to proposea program of study that I think might eventually aid usall in a program of action.

Well, so much for these questions, and now I won'tdiscuss them exactly in that order, but they will be, Ithink, inherent in what I have to say.

And first, with reference to my predilection for suchan ancient subject as the very ancient rhetoric ofAristotle. When Abram Sachar was President of BrandeisUniversity he told an audience "The early Jewscreated the Bible out of their lives, and the later Jewscreated their lives out of the Bible." This is symbolicof the establishment of a tradition and its subsequentdominance. And by analogy we might say the earlyGreeks created a rhetoric out of persuasion in Greek life.And later rhetoricians study persuasion as it was ob.served in those days in classical rhetoric. ProfessorWelldon in the introduction to his translation of Aristotle'sRhetoric way back in 1886 says: "The Rhetoric of

Aristotle will be read as the solitary instance of a bookwhich not only begins a science, but which completes it.Rhetoric was Aristotle's creation, and whatever has beerput into it, from his time to ours, is due to him."

While it may be expected that there should be reac-tions against the domination of any one book theBible, or the Rhetoric, it's been disappointing thatthere has been so much less change in the study ofrhetoric than in the related fields of ethics, politics,psychology and sociology. It has been said that thegreatest contributors to rhetoric have been philosophers,for whom rhetoric was only an incidental interest.Others are saying that both psychology and sociologynow have more to say about persuasibrt than has rhetoric,and that they are also more scientific. They are begin-ning to apply scientific tests to rhetoric, and when, asso often, they find an ancient observation valid, theyhave at least achieved the victory of a scientific veri-fication. To me one of the most likely sources for theenlargement of rhetoric is the study of rhetorical crit-icism, as it has been exemplified in this conferencehere at Hayward. And I would say as it has been exem-plified here today. I have read the papers in the pastthree conferences, I've been very much impressed bythem. And I was very much impressed by the papers I

'heard this afternoon. I had the feeling that they werenot papers written under the, shall we say, dictatorshipof an established system of rhetoric, but they seemedto me studies of specific aspects of rhetorical behaviorwritten according to the interests of the writers; there-fore a new freedom was there. I had the feeling, torevert to Mr. Sachar's quotation in the first place, thatthese people were creating rhetoric out of our own livesas well as out of the lives of the past.

Of course, we shall remain indebted to some of theobservations of the old rhetoric, just as the Bible willcontinue to be quoted for its wisdom, ever. by the mostsceptical.

To take an example of this union of ancient wisdomand modern experience, let me say a word or two aboutthe contemporary analyses of youth as a possible ex-planation for the generation gap. Take for instancesuch contemporary studies as Kenneth Keniston's studiesof both committed and alienated youth. From thesestudies, which I think are fascinating, one might almostconclude that modern youth is altogether a new productof a new civilization, partly formed,.I suppose, byFreudian psychology. But now turn to Aristotle onyouth, and, poor man, he didn't know Freud justto quote a few sentences from him:

Youth is passionate, quick to anger, and quackto obey its impulses. 'ihey are ambitious and cut.ten-tious, rather than avaricious. They are credulous,because they have not often been deceived; they arehigh-minded, for they have not yet been abased by life;they do everything too much: they love too much; theyhate too much, and so in all else. They think theyknow everything and are positive; and that is thecause of their overdoing all things. They measuretheir neighbors by their own innocence, and soconceive that these are suffering wrongfully. Theyare lovers of laughter, of wit and of educatedinsolence.

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Now think of that in that simple. primitive Athens! AndAristotle has no psychologist to advise him. Thisjust came through his daily observations.

Well now, lest you should think I, as an old man,take a king of malevolent pleasure in this condemnationof youth Daughte, let me t urn to what he said aboutold age Oaughterj:

Elderly people, as most things are disappointing,are positive about nothing, and do all things much toofeebly. They neither like nor hate strongly, but likeas if they would afterwards hate, and hate as if theywould afterwards like. They are illiberal, for propertyis one of their necessaries. They are chilled whileyouth is hot; and so old age has prepared the way forcowardice, since fear is a chill.

Well don't you think he was impartial? Paughtei3I am not quoting from the next stage in the Rhetoric

which has to do with middle age, which is praised, andwhich I am told by scholarly footnote writers was writtenby Aristotle when he was forty-nine Daughte.

Whether our study of the generation gap fills us withhope or despair, it is an essential part of ally study ofthe rhetoric of violence, and even more so now whenyouths live together in such large and independent corn -munities, and when they seem to be conformist in theirnon-conformities. And this observation leads me towonder if the gap, the generation gap, is perpetual. 1don't have enough adequate scholarship to answer thispositively, but I have turned with a great deal of interestto a book just published by Lewis Feuer called, TheConflict of the Generations. I haven't read the book(it's $12.50), but I've read two or three reviews of itand did manage to borrow it from our director of admis-sions at Swarthmore, who has read it with great care ashe prepares for the admissions for the next year paughteD.And this is a quotation:

As David wept for Absalom, many later generationswept for their sons. Both Plato and Aristotle recognizedthe generational struggle as a prime factor in generationalchange. Generational struggle differs from class struggle.Labor movements have never had to struggle for issuesthe way student movements have. Student movementsare born of vague, undefined emotions which seek forsome issue, some cause to which to attach themselves.A complex of urges, altruism, idealism, revolt, self -sacrifice and even self-destruction searches the socialorder for a strategic avenue of expression . . A studentmovement will usually tend to choose a side whichinvolves a higher measure of violence or humiliationdirected against the older generation . . But saysin a final kindly conclusiotwhen all our analysts ofgenerational conflict is done, what endures is thepromise and hope of a purified idealism, a dream ofrenewal which remains the historical bearer ofhumanity's highest hopes.

But this kindly conclusion somehow or other didn'tcirculate in Berkeley as much as the earlier part, andso he found it necessary to move to Toronto and fromthere he published this book.

Well, now I turn from these generalizations aboutyouth and age to the subject matter, the subject matterof the participants in rhetoric, the subject matter ofthose people who use rhetoric.

In many periods of the history of education rhetorichas been limited to the technique of discourse, And

when a proposal was published in the Quarterly Journalin 1918 to add substance to form in the study of rhetoric,the vigorous reply was that this was to destroy our stand-ing as specialists. As teachers we could teach only whatwe could teach authoritatively, and that was the tech-nique of discourse. Later in the 1930's when Harvardemphasized the concept of general education, it wasadmitted that rhetoric might have a special place in thiseven if it seemed like going back to irrelevant Ciceroand Quintilian.

Well, my proposal now, as far as I have a definite andspecific proposal, is that we do need a course, a com-plete course in the rhetoric of violence; we do need alentire textbook devoted to material on the rhetoric ofviolence, and it should be kept up to date. Recentevents, I think, make it obvious that revolts on and offthe campus which either threaten or use violence as amethod of coercive persuasion need to be discussedrationally by large numbers of students, who are prettycertain to have diverse opinions. And the absence ofthis concern of discussion on the part of a great manymoderates, I think, has added power to those who areexponents of violence.

I think it is of vital concern in such a course thatstudents should read t hose balks with widely diversepoints of view coming out of Berkeley and Columbia.When I first thought of talking about this I thoughtsurely I would discuss those specific issues, but bythe time I had read the books I thought they were Socomplicated and this time was so short that all Icould do was to recommend that you too should readthem. And the students should follow events atMichigan, Wisconsin, Chicago, Brandeis, San FranciscoState, Notre Dame, Colorado, Queens and more conspic-uously now Harvard and Cornell and Dartmouth. Followthe daily paper, you'll add new ones everyday. And then,when you begin to philosophize about those items, as Ihope you would do, you might turn and say, "Well, whatare the ideas back of these are there any new ideasor philosophiesIthat seem to warrant these revolts, ideaswhich these young revolters quote and use and whichinfluence and form their rhetoric? I want to mention justtwo men who seem to me to provide these beliefs al-though they are in the air almost everywhere.

Herbert Marc use, now teaching at San Diego, has beencalled the Marx of the new left. He has recently sum-marized his revolutionary creed in a short "Essay onLiberation," and his students often leave his classesto picket the more conserve. ..ive.professors, which atleast suggests that he has influence. He believes thatliberation must precede the construction of his idealfree society, and therefore he will outline no Utopia.The free society is to grow out of established societies.His Great Refusal will not accept the outworn strategiesof patience and persuasion. And the moral hypocrisy ofsociety may be effectively attacked through the free useof obscenity, which focuses attention on our absurd con-ventionalities. I have heard enough current obscenity tosuppose it was just, shall we say, the exuberence ofyouth, and to find it seriously treated by philosophersas a serious means of underminding our present society

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was something of a surprise to me. But 1 find now thatpsychologists are undertaking serious studies of thepsychological effect of this, and I think we'll have towait a little for the future to find out just what it is.

Well, Marcuse goes on to say, the intellectuals areto be the leaders of the new revolution, rather than thelaboring classes, and the intellectuals are also to leadthe revolution in art, the creation of a new free sensu-ality, as well as develop these new terms of abusewhich will enable us all to make a gay fun of this oldfashioned society. The student radicals may aid informulating revolutionary theory, but they cannot be agreat force until they get the support of the masses.As labor is now capitalistic, the most helpful group willbe in the black ghettos, which will have to struggie alsoagainst the middle class capitalistic blacks. The stu-dent radicals may demand educational reforms as a meansof achieving a larger support, but these are minor issuescompared with the destruction of society. If violence isnecessary to accomplish this, it should be rememberedthat the Establishment uses violence in burning, poison-ing, and bombing, so there is no such thing as a legit-imate distinction between legitimate and illegitimateviolence.

And while Marcuse does not believe in freedom ofspeech and would suppress any opposition to his newsociety and would use violence when necessary, hedoes not directly exalt violence for its own sake. Andso I will conclude with this brief summary of him andturn to a philosopher of black power, Frantz Fanon, theAlgerian psychoanalyst, whose dates are 1925-1961,who aided his fellow Algerians and other Africans inthe rebellion against the French. He expanded thisrebellion into a vision of a new third world, which is tobe shared by all oppressed people, and eventually by allmen. And may I say about this book, The Miserable ofthe Earth, to me it is a profoundly moving book, and hisdescriptions of the conditions of the Blacks and of theoppressed people everywhere can give an academicprofessor something of a sense of guilt of not havingspent more time on oppression. And so I, if I don'tseem to sympathize with his philosophy of violence,would commend him to you as one who will turn yourattention with greatly increased sympathy to the miser-able of the earth. But first, about his comment onviolence, let me quote Jean-Paul Sirtre, who haswritten an introduction to the new translation of thisbook which is available easily in paperback. Sartresays:

This irrepressible violence is man creating him-self. The native cures himself of colonial neurosis bythrusting out the settler through the force of arms. Thechild of violence, at every moment he draws from violenceits humanity. We are rien at his expense ghat is theprimitive man's expense 1; he makes himself a man atours; a different man of higher quality because he hasindulged in violence.

This then from the Parisian playwright and not from theprimitive black although I should not refer to Fanonas primitive either. Fanon himself says;

Violence is a cleansing force. It frees the nativefrom his inferiority complex and from his despair andinaction. It makes him fearless and restores his self-respect . . . Violence alone, violence committed bythe people, violence organized and educated by itsleaders makes it possible for the masses to under.stand social truths.

And that's all I shall quote from him.Let me say that it's not only depressed black people

on Fanon's primitive Africa who find themselves byparticipating in violence. Psychiatrists and deans inAmerican colleges tell us of the alienated and lonelystudents who have found a new life by sharing in massdemonstrations violent and non-violent. And recentlythe dean of Barnard College has issued a kind of appealbased on her interview with the girls who found them-selves by joining the mass demonstrations at Columbia,who are no longer alone and solitary and alienated, butare self-confident, defiant and joyous. She asked whatother course of action should she recommend to themthat would equal their delight in this violence.

Well now, let me turn a little bit to some of theteachers of rhetoric and what they have had to say. AndI'm going to skip here; I don't wish to prolong thisspeech. But I think it's rather important, and I havebeen rather surprised to find out how many editors oftexts of new speeches on violence are quite profoundlysympathetic with this violence and how wily of themare inclined to denounce our old rhetoric as one of theinstruments of the establishment and something we'vegot to get rid of just as we get rid of the old society.I refer to several of these articles from the QuarterlyJournal of Speech in the last three or four years, and Ithink I can assume that most of you either have readthem or will find them easily available.

Mr. F ranklin Haiman, in 1967, said, "We must not beharsh in our judgments of non-rational strategies ofpersuasion." That seems to me to be quite a significantphrase "Non-rational strategies of persuasion." or assome other people call it, "coersive persuasion," andas other people call it " coersive rhetoric." And hesays, "Whenever the dissatisfied do not have a relativeequality of power they are justified in appealing to anon-rational strategy of persuasion." This from a well-established professor of rhetoric! And he says, "When-ever the Establishment seems unwilling to listen toreason, then the dissidents can resort to [what he call]'Body Rheto-ic.' " I expect some of you are quitefamiliar with that term; people like it because JusticeHarlan, in 1961, said that "body rhetoric" was a part offree speech and therefore had something of the samerights as long as it didn't particularly injure others.So this rhetorician, this prdessor of rhetoric, quoteswith approval Bayard Rustin's remark, "We need to gointo the streets all over the country and make a mountainof social confusion until the power structure is altered."

Another man that I want to quote briefly is ParkBurgess of Dartmouth, and this essay of his was writtenbefore the recent events at Dartmouth, and may merelyhave strengthened his convictions. He says, "Ourimmoral racist denial offers adequate moral-justification

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for the rhetoric of Black Power. Beneath the BlackPower call to arms is a cry for justice and community.If we are to repudiate or transcend the rhetoric ofviolence we must abandon this conventional rhetoric of'business as usual' for a new moral rhetoric of 'demo-cratic commitment.' "

And this in an article by Robert Scott and DonaldSmith. It's quite a long article, and I just want to reada conclusion here because it is, I think, an effectiverhetorical condemnation of the old rhetoric:

Since the time of Aristotle academic rhetorics havebeenIfor the most part instruments of establishedsocieity, presupposing the 'goods' of order, civility,reasoh, decorum and civil or theocratic law. But thetheorists of the rhetoric of confrontation now challengethe ok.1 rhetoric, and their aspirations for a better worldare sd great and their passions for action so strong thatthey compel us to acknowledge that the civility. anddecorum of our old rhetoric serve merely as marks forthe prttservation of injustice, they condemn the dis-posseSsed to non-being and that as transmitted in atechnollpgical society they become the instrumentalitiesof power for those who "have", And we must have anew, broader basis for our rhetoric.

And one other article on the Columbia demonstrations,which does not approve of them, but says they are a casestudy in coercive rhetoric. And James Andrews says,whether or not that rhetoric is justified, coercive rhet-oric is a part of rhetoric and must be treated by us as apart of our study of the subject of rhetoric.

And a final text book on the rhetoric of Black Power,which has speeches by Stokley Carmichael, and [Charle]Hamilton, and Martin Luther King and others, closeswith the remarks that these are our final warnings insociety, and if we don't heed them, we get the destruc-tion that is coming to us. And I would just raise thequestion in your minds as a part of this study, whetherthe editors are justified in saying these exponents ofBlack Power are the authoritative spokesmen of all ofthe black race, and whether or not they have sufficientlyconsidered that there are a great many other points ofview in the black race and that there is some doubt asto whether these exponents of black power are notalready somewhat losing their ground. But at any rateI think this requires very careful consideration.

A more neutral book called The Agitator in AmericanSociety, criticizes the other books for banging in onlycontemporary rhetoric. He says we should have oldspeeches because we can study old speeches withdetachment. And then, he says its surprising how manysimilarities you'll find when you come to study oldspeeches.

Well, so much for the teachers of rhetoric and I thinkmaybe I have just retained my traditional prejudices.All this has been rather amazing to me and I think it'sworth our very careful study.

Now, let's turn very briefly to the action taken bysome administrators toward student violence and seewhat we can learn from these actions.

The rhetoric of the public press has been very stronglyagainst violence, even when exploiting it, aad has beenvery critical of the faculty and administration, Andthere are certain highly rhetorical speeches denouncing

the whole academic world as wholly lacking in any back-bone. Some of them have said, even in Congress, somewith an academic background, that the American As-sociation of University Professors spent years withwhat they called a brave fight to have power in Ameri-can universities, but now, when cowardly administrationsare trying to turn their sense of responf slay to thefaculties are just as cowardly as the administrations;there are no sources of power in the administrations atall and the government must provide it. And that willbe effective rhetoric for some audiences.

Presidents Abram of Brandeis and Levi of Chicagofound that by liagence and restraint the moderates cameto their support and the take-overs died out. Pusey ofHarvard and his Dean Ford appealed for police protec-tion after a particularly outrageous seizure, and yet,the faculty and students repudiated them. Perkins ofCornell refused to use force in suppressing the firstarmed revolt, persuaded the faculty to grant amnesty,and now is rapidly, it seems, losing faculty and studentsupport for selling out. These things all seem contra-dictory. And my conclusion is that there is, as yet, noclear formula for dealing with student visa/ rice. Thereare various commissions appointed, and the hope is thatout of these contradictory experiences they may reachsome agreement which may be publicized and acted uponby the universities and relieve somewhat our present un-certainty and confusion. But I should say that for thepresent a student studying the rhetoric of violenceneeds to study particular institutions with care. Andhe should refrain from final judgements until historyhas given him complete evidence, even if he feels thatFather Hesburgh of Notre Dame has said the final word.

Many sympathizers with student rebels have said thecause of student violence lies in the universities them-selves for being so slow to reform themselves. I'llskip over a good many university presidents who havesaid this, somewhat to the horror of their faculties. Buteven these men do not agree upon the reforms that theythink should have been made. A listing of universitiesand colleges where violence has occurred makes itevident that the same events occur in very diverseinstitutions. For example, Professor Cox of Harvard,who headed the Report of the Fact Finding Commissionat Columbia, said he was glad to know that nothing likethis could happen at Harvard where things were so dif-ferent. Well you know what did happen; and small,intimate, highly personal colleges seem to face thesame demands that are presented to the multiversity.This tends to drive an observer back again from a con-centration on issue 6 to an analysis of the violentstudents. And to return somewhat to our early con-sideration of youth Kenneth Kenniston, (quoting fromthe latter part of his most recent volume), says studentsare seeking two very different revolutions. One is theold, familiar revolution of the industrial society thatstarted in America and France in the 18th century (andwas not really so different from the days of Pericles).les a quantitative revolution that seeks for the exten-sion to more and more people the rights and opportun-

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ities formerly available only to the aristocracy. Rut wealso have a revolution which will never rest content withquantitative affluence and political freedom. It is aqualitative revolution on the part of the people who stillfind that something is missing in their lives, and theywant to escape the limits of the material. They want anexpansion of consciousness, a recognitim of the uniquevalue of the individual, roles in life that will never re-main static, meaningful human relations in what theycall participatory democracy.

Well now, are these two different revolutions inter-twined or are they quite separate? Should they be inter-twined? Is it right to demand imaginative careers ofself-realization and freedom from all monotony while yourealize that so many men live in misery? Does the de-mands of the first revolution leave the second unfulfilled?And will tie pursuit of the second frustrate the first? Andwill all this produce a continuous rage of frustration thatwill seek its satisfaction in violence? And will therhetoric of violence be a major means of self-realizationas both Fanon' and Marcuse have said?

Well, I have to arrive at. some conclusion, and so Iappeal to a figure that I greatly admire, John W. Gardner.In his latest book, Self-Renewal, he has what he calls aprescription for a sick societ!. In this he opposesviolence, not because he is a conservative who wants toprotect the status quo; his diagnosis of the sickness ofsociety is just as severe as the diagnosis of many alien-ated rebels. But I quote, "The tasks of social changeare tasks for the tough minded and competent. Thosewho come to the task with the currently fashionablemixture of passion and incompetence only add to theconfusion." As so, preparing for the argument thatwithout disruption on the campus or riots in the slums,no change would have come about, although he admits

that we do seem to have produced changes, he warnsthat those whocite the gains of violence ignore thelosses, the backlashes, the repressions and the lastinghatreds and withdrawals that are following them.

Some of us will hope that the outbreak of violence inrecent years will be merely a passing phase in contem-porary life. I'm afraid that it's likely to get worse beforeit gets better. And a study of its irrational demands, itsmisreading appeals, and I must admit, at times its veryreal victories for reform, will add to the power of arational rhetoric as an instrument for social changethrough persuasive.appeals for justice. And I hope wemay make those appeals,

A RHETORICAL CRITICISM OF AN OLD NEGRO LEADER

by

Paul H. Arntson, Senior in Speech, San Diego State College

On December 10, 1950, Ralph Johnson Buncheaccepted the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to settlethe Palestine War. He was the first Black man andthe eleventh American to receive the award. TheNew York Times considered him to be "the world'soutstanding Negro."1 General Eisenhower thoughtDr. Bunche was one of the greatest statesmen thiscountry had ever produced,'

Yet today, for many Black Americans, his placein history is not so exalted, Malcolm X consideredDr. Bunche to be merely "window dressing."

Stokely Carmichael seemed to suggest thatBunche was one of those Black men who "makes it,leaving his black brothers behind in the ghetto asfast as his new sports car will take him."4

This new attitude toward Dr. Bunche reflects agrowing suspicion about several of the old Negroleaders, According to Eldridge Cleaver, "the onlyNegro Americans allowed to attain national or inter-national fame have been the puppets and lackeys ofthe white power structure." In short, Cleaver sawthem as "Uncle Toms." On the other hand, Cleaversuggested that any Negro, like Garvey, Robeson,DuPois, or Williams, who sought leadership but"refused to become a tool of the white powerstructure was either cast into prison, hounded outof the country or blasted into obscurity."5 NathanHare was also suspicious of the old Negro leaders.They were men whose "selecti in and promotim bythe white liberal establishment" meant that theestablishment could manipulate them, either directlyor indirectly.6 William Brink and Louis Harris sum-marize, somewhat biasedly, this new attitude towardthe old Negro leaders. They state that "In the angryextremist view, men like King, Wilkens, and Youngare Uncle Toms, gullibly playing into the hands ofwhites who soothe them with sweet talk, and oc-casionally hire a Negro who looks as if he won'toffend anyone."7

t "Americas Most Honored Negro," Ebony, V, No. 3(January, 1950), 60.

2/61d.

3Robert Penn Warren, Who Speaks for the Negro (NewYork, 1965), p. 260.

4Stokely Carmichael, "Power and Racism," The BlackPower Revolt, ed. Floyd B. Barbour (Boston, 1968), p. 65.

5Elridge Cleaver, Soul on ice, (New York, 1968), p. 87.

This new attitude toward the old Negro leaderslike Dr. Bunche raises an important n. iestion. Towhat extent are the suspicions about the old Negroleaders justified? It is a question that the field ofrhetorical criticism is well suited to answer, Itwould seem that only after evaluating how thedemands placed upon a Negro leader by a particularsituation have been met, could people attempt toclaim that the leader was either "outstanding" or"window dressing" for that particular situation.

It is the purpose of this paper to evaluate howwell Ralph Bunch met the demands placed upon himwhen he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. In orderto make such an evaluation it is necessary (1)todescribe.the situation, (2) t oanalyze what demandsthat situation placed on Bunche, and (3) to evaluatehow well he attempted to meet those demands.

A DESCRIPTION OF THE SITUATIONIn order to describe the speech situation some

mention of the nature of the occasion, the type ofaudience, and the world-wide circumstances thatsurrounded the speech are necessary to determinewhat demands the overall situation placed upon Dr.Bun che.8 The occasion was the acceptance of theNobel Peace Prize for 1950. The UN Bulletin pointedout that the meeting at Oslo was to be "a specialcelebration marking the fiftieth anniversary of thetrust fund founded by Alfred Nobel. To mark theanniversary, all surviving winners of the peaceprize are being invited to attend the ceremonialpresentation."9 The immediate audience in Oslo,was described in an AP article dateline December10, 1950, in the New York Times. "King Haakin,Crown Prince Olaf, arid other members of the royalfamily witnessed the presentation by the Parliamen-tary Committee in Oslo University's largest hall,filled to capacity by prominent Norwegians, Ameri-cans, and others, including a party of American

6Nathan Hare, "How White Power Whitewashes BlackPower," The Black Power Revolt, ed. Floyd B. Barbour(Boston, 1968), p. 185.

7William Brink and Louis Heals, Black and White,(New York, 1966), p. 57.

8since the speech was given in an internationalsituation the worldwide circumstances should be discussed.

9UN Bulletin IX (October 15, 1950), 382.

Negroes."1° Dr. Bunche came into the Hall "amidthunderous applause from the audience. He appeareddeeply moved. Several minutes elapsed before theovation ended so that he could speak."11 Onereason the audience gave Dr. Bunche a long ovationwas because they deeply appreciated this man ofpeace during the Korean War.12 The War was one ofthree world-wide circumstances surrounding Bunche'sspeech that should be discussed. The December 11,1950 issue of the New York Times contained prac-

tically nothing but news about the Korean War. OnDecember 10, the day Bunche accepted the PeacePrize, over one thousand Ameiican Marines lost theirlives trying to escape a Red trap in Korea. Fourthousand other Marines were wounded. Ninetythousand Red Chinese were massing to cut offanother escape route, as the UN armies were in ageneral retreat all over Korea. There was alsomentio of two all-Negro units that had fought well,"

The tact that there were two all Negro units fight-ing in Korea leads into a discussion of the secondworld-wide circumstance that sunounded Dr. Bunche'sspeech. Negroes were almost totally segregated fromwhites in America.

The summary of the 1949 Report of the NAACPhinted at how poorly the Negro was treated in America.The summary listed case after case of Negroes beinglynched, beaten, and shot to death. Jim Crow ruledthe land. The law institutionalized him in education,voting, housing, health care, transportation, and themilitary service." Ralph Bunche refused a positionas an Assistant to the Secretary of State because ofthe segregated conditions in Washington.15 Congressfilibustered down antilynch and antipoll tax laws.Negro violence occurred in Chicago, St. Louis, Wash-ington, Birmingham, Packskill, New York, and Grove.land, Florida.16 Clearly the segregated circumstancessurrounding Dr. Bunche's speech were deplorable.

These deplorable conditions in America led anotherNegro leader, Paul Robeson, in Paris on April 20,1949, to make this comment: "The Black folk ofAmerica will never fight against the Soviet Union."17

l0New York Times, Dec. 11, 1950, p. 10.

11/bid.

12New York Times, Sept. 23, 1950, p. 16.

l3New York Times, Dec. 11, 1950, p. 1.

14"Race Relations Summary, 1949 Report of NAACP"Interracial Review XXIII, No, 1 (January, 1950), 9 12.

15"Editorial," The Crisis, 57, No. 9 (October, 1950),578,

16"Race Relations Summary," p, 9.

17W.E.D. Dul3ois, "Paul Robeson. Right or Wrong,"Negro bigeNt. VIII, No. 5 (March 1950), 8.

7

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This phrase, along with Robeson's continual praiseof Russia and condemnation of America, should alsohave had some influence upon Bunche's speech.Colliers on June 10, 1950 suggested that Bunche beappointed Ambassador to Russia to counter PaulRobeson's propaganda about segregation in America.18A white magazine was not the only source that sawBunche as a piece of propaganda. Walter White ofthe NAACP said that the award should serve also asan answer to Soviet propaganda that merit in a darkskin receives no recognition in the Western World."What Paul Robeson said twenty months before inParis could not help but influence what Ralph Bunchewould say in Oslo. Using the information gatheredabout the occasion, the audience and the social andpolitical circumstances that surrounded Dr. Bunche'sspeech, it is now possible to discuss the demandsplaced on Dr. Bunche.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE DEMANDS

The demands placed on Dr. Bunche created threeproblems that he must resolve in his acceptancespeech. The first problem is created by the fact thatDr. Bunche was accepting the Nobel Peace Prizeduring the Korean War. Since the occasion was thefiftieth anniversary of the Prize and several pastrecipients were there, Dr. Bunche was expected tospeak about the significance of the Peace Prize. Asthe recipient in 1950, he was expected to talk aboutpeace in 1950. Yet Dr. Bunche could hardly ignorethe Korean War in stressing the need for peace.This is Dr. Bunche's first problem. How could hespeak about the significance of a Peace Prize heWon as a UN Diplomat during a brutal and tragic wethat the UN was losing?

Dr. Bunche's second major problem centeredaround the fact that he was the first Negro to receivea Nobel Prize, There was a group of AmericanNegroes in the audience whose racial pride probablyexpected him to make some reference to his race,Those people who felt his award offset Paul Robe-son's propaganda also expected him to emphasizehis race. Yet to emphasike his race too much wouldbe to detract from the reason he won the award, andbelie the claim that the world can choose men ontheir merit, not on their race.20 These demandscreated the second problem Dr. Bunche must solvein his speech.

18"Mr. President May We Suggest," Colliers, 125 (June10, 1950), 86.

19New York Times, Sept, 23, 1950. p. 4.

200iAmerlca's Most Honored Negro," Ebony, V. No.(January, 1950), 60, "For the moment at least, Americaforgot his color and remembered only his deeds." (Edi-torial) New York Times, Sept. 23, 1950, p. 16, Theimportant point is not that autiehe is a Negro but that hedeserves the award.

Two other demands that come from the speechsituation suggest a third problem for Dr. Bunche,The segregated conditions of America and the worldshould certainly have caused him to condemn them orat least comment specifically on them.21 Yet bydoing so he would have been supporting Paul Robe-son's claims and making his speech usable propagandamaterial for the Russians. Dr, Bunche must decideon how to condemn segregation in America and therest of the world without sounding too much likePaul Robeson.

How Dr. Bunche responded to the three problemsthe demands had created will determine what type ofNegro Leader he was on December I. 0, 1950.

AN EVALUATION OF THE SPEECH

In one way or another, Dr. Bunche attempted toresolve in his speech the'three problems he faced.In the second paragraph of his address he statedthat the Prize, besides Ats personal significance hada great significance for

A restive world in which inequalities among peoples,racial and religious bigotrie, prejudices and taboosare endemic and stubbornly persistent. From thisnorthern land has come a vibrant note of hope andinspiration for vast millions of people whose bitterexperience has impressed upon them that color andinequality are inexorably concomitant.22

In this part of the speech Dr, Bunche tried to solvetwo of,his problems. First, he tried in rather anoblique way.to mention that segregation existed inthe world. He did manage to avoid letting his com-ments become useful Russian propaganda but at theexpense of wasting a unique opportunity to reallyemphasize the Negro's plight in the world, andespecially in America. It was not every day that aNegro was speaking in front of an internationalaudience that was honoring him. Although Dr.Bunche did state that millions were being deniedequal rights, he neither asked nor demanded thatchanges take place. Instead he suggested that hisreceiving the Peace Prize would give Negroes andother oppressed groups hope and inspiration. Thiswas as far as Dr, Bunche would go in emphasizing,the racial overtones of his award. It was a cleverattempt to solve his problem of how to emphasizethe racial aspect of his award without detractingfrom the reason he received the award, Althoughhis response was clever, it is impossible to see howDr, Bunche could think his award could have somesignificance for the Negro masses.23 Stokely Car-2lUntortunately neigher the white press nor the Negro

press made it a habit to interview men like DuBois andRobeson. Therefore the critic has no support for thispoint from 1050 sources,

22The copy of the speech being used was sent to SanDiego State by Dr. Bunche upon request, See Appendix Afor a copy. Portions of the speech that were recorded bythe New York Times and the London Times of Dec. II,1950 match the speech Dr. Bunche sent.

Line. t3unche also thought that his career "perhapsindicates that there is opportunity for the Negro here."Negro Digest, VIII, No. 11 (September, 1950), 3 12,

8

michael had a more realistic appraisal of the signif-icance that the events in Bunche's life had for theNegro masses. He quoted a lady from Alabama assaying, "The food that Ralph Bunche eats doesn'tfill my stomach.24

The amazing thing about Dr. Bunche's comment isthat it sounds so white. Maurice R. Davie commentedin 1949 that whites have always adopted an attitudeof condescension toward Negroes and exaggeratedtheir achievements,25 The rellifionship between Dr.Bunche's comment and Homer Metz's comment, whowas then the UN Correspondent for the ChristianScience Monitor, is very close.

For Dr. Bunche is today a symbol of hope, pride,and leadership for all Negroes everywhe e. Thefact that a member of their race could go so faras he has done, has become an important fact inthe minds of millions of them, throughout theworld.26

The New York Times and the Interracial Review alsoran articles concerning Bunche that were just asexaggerated about Bunche's importance to his race.27

A more plausible interpretation of Dr, Bunche'saward was suggested in the semi-militant Negromagazine Crisis. It suggested that the award wentto a deserving person and then asked the question:

What prevents other talented American Negroes fromrising to positions of statesmanship? The artificialbarriers of race. The lack of opportunity to acquireskill and equal lack of opportunity to apply theseskills after they have been acquired. It was theUnited Nations not the United States that saw worthin this man and gave him great opportunity. TheUnited States wastes Negro diplomatic talent,putting her account with it on the wrong side of theledger.28

Dr. Bunche and the white press saw in his awardsome hope and inspiration for the black man whileCrisis saw in his award the racial barriers that wouldstop other Negroes from doing the same thing,

It is interesting to note that Dr. Bunche complete-ly avoided using the term "Negro" in his address,It almost seems that he did not want to emphasizethe fact that, he was a Negro American or a NegroUN Diplomat, This attitude toward his race can beseen in his Commencement Address at Fisk Universityon May 30, 1949. Speaking to the graduates he said:

24Stokety Carmichael, "Who is Qualified," New Republic,154 (January 8, 1966) 21,

25Maurice R. Davie, Negroes in American Society (NewYork, 1949), I,. 381.

26Homer Meta, "He Made Peace in Palestine," NewRepublic, 120 (May 30, 1949), 10.

27"Ralph Bunche, Statesman," Interracial Review, XXII,No. 3 (March, 1949), 36, (Editorial) New York Times,Sept, 23, 1950, p. 16.

28"Editoriat," The Crisis, 57, No. 9 (October, 1950),578.

They are Negroes primarily in a negative sensethey reject that sort of treatment that deprives themof their birthright as Americans. Remove that treat-ment and their identification as Negroes in theAmerican society would become meaningless .

Later in the address he suggests that the basiclonging of each graduate "is to be an American infull. Not a Negro American. Not an Afro-American.Just an American."29 The negative attitude towardhis race is one of the primary reasons he failed tomeet some of the problems facing him in his, speech.

In the next to the last paragraph, Dr. Bunch sug-gested that this award ceremony had a "specialsymbolic significance . . . in a dark and periloushour of human history" because the occasion's solepurpose was to pay "high tribute to the sacred causeof peace." In this paragraph Bunche attempted tosolve the problem of how to accept a peace awardduring a war. Basically, he tried to solve theproblem by ignoring the fact that the UN was losinga war in Korea while he was speaking. Like theword "Negro", neither the word "Korea" nor "war"appeared anywhere in his speech. While Dr. Bunche

did try to give the ceremony some meaning, "specialsymbolic significance" of any kind meant absolutelynothing to the thousands of men who died the dEiy

Bunche accepted his Peace Prize.By ignoring the grim realities of segregation and

the Korean War, Dr. Bunche's speech was a failure.On December 10, 1950, Dr. Ralph Bunche was"window dressing" not only to the Black community,but to the world as wel1.30

Statement of acceptance by

Ralph J. Bunche,Principal Director,Department of Trusteeship andInformation from Non-Self-Governing Territories,United Nations,

on the Occasion of thePresentation of theNobel Peace Prize,

10 December, 1950, at 1:00 p.m.in the Aula of the Universityof Oslo, Norway.

29Ratph Bunche, "Barriers of Race cm, be surmounted,Color has nothing to do with Worth," Vital Speeches, XV(July 1, 049), 572 4.

300nly after examining all of the demanding situationsin Dr. Bunche's life could the suspicions about this oldNegro leader be confirmed or rejected. This paper made

no attempt to attach a label to Dr. Bunche's life on thebasis of one situation.

Your Majesty,Your Royal Highnesses,Mr. President of the Nobel Committee,Ladies and Gentlemen:

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To be honored by one's fellow men is a rich andpleasent expeiience. But to receive the uniquelyhigh honor here bestowed today, because of the worldview of Alfred Nobel long ago, is an overwhelmingexperience. To the President and members of theNobel Committee I may say of their action, which atthis hour finds its culmination, only that I am ap-preciative beyond the puny power of words to convey.I am inspired by your confidence.

I am not unaware, of course, of the special andbroad significance of this award far transcendingits importance or significance to me as an individ-ual in an imperfect and restive world in whichinequalities among peoples, racial and religiousbigotries, prejudices and taboos are endemic andstubbornly persistent. From this northern land hascome a vibrant note of hope and inspiration for vastmillions of people whose bitter experience has im-pressed upon them that color and inequality areinexorably concomitant.

There are many who figuratively stand beside metoday and who are also honored here. I am but oneof many cogs in the United Nations, the greatestpeace organization ever, dedicated to the salvationof mankind's future on earth. It is, indeed, itselfan honor to be enabled to practice the arts of peaceunder the aegis of the United Nations.

As I now stand before you, I cannot help butreflect on the never-failing support and encouragement afforded me, during my difficult assignment inthe Near East, by Trygve Lie, and by his ExecutiveAssistant, Andrew Cordier. Nor can I forget any of

the more than 700 valiant men and women of theUnited Nations Palestine Mission who loyallyserved with Count Bernadotte and me, who weredevoted servants of the cause of peace, and withoutwhose tireless and fearless assistance our mission

must surely have failed. At this moment, too, Irecall, all too vividly and sorrowfully, that tenmembers of that mission gave their lives in thenoble cause of peace-making.

But above all, there was my treasured friend andformer chief, Count Po Ike Bernadotte, who made the

supreme sacrifice to the end that Arabs and Jewsshould be returned to the ways of peace. Scan-dinavia, and the peace-loving world at large, may

long revere his memory, as I shall do, as shall allof those who participated in the Palestine peaceeffort under his inspiring command.

In a dark and perilous hour of human history,when the future of all mankind hangs fatefully inthe balance, it is of special symbolic significancethat in Norway, this traditionally peace-lovingnation, and among such friendly and kindly peopleof great good will, this ceremony should be held forthe exclusive purpose of paying high tribute to thesacred cause of peace on earth, good will among men.

RHETORICAL IMPLICATIONS OF SOUL ON ICE

by

Steve R. DowcitSenior in Speech, U.C., Davis

Lloyd Bitzer defines rhetoric as a means ofaltering reality.1 Black Americans have attemptedto alter reality since the institution of slavery.Throughout history, the despair of the Negro isevident as he reacts to his status. The violence ofNat Turner, Frederick Douglass as part of the Abo-litionist Movement, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B.Dubois' Niagra Movement, the N.A.A.C.P., MartinLuther King, and Malcolm X exemplify the varietyof appeals employed by blacks. In attempting tounderstand why Negroes have been forced to "coolit" for so long and to .nderstand rhetorical strate-gies as responses to their situation, one shouldfirst realize the connotations of 'soul' aF it hasbeen adapted by black Americans.

Soul, as an ideology. ministers to the needs foridentity and solidarity.2 By recognizing th Negroproblem as one of self-hatred, the 'rack of self-esteem, and even the lack of self, one sees mean-ing to soul. One young black said: "Soul is whatmoves us, makes us want to be different than wewere before, makes us know that we are black andthat is great and we ain't gonna be no whitey's boynomore. Dig?"3 For the Negro, soul encouragespride in his blackness. It also emphasizes a supe-rior capacity for emotional authenticity, which, froma rhetorical standpoint, is an attractive character-istic to incorporate into one's image. Soul relatesto the erotic, frenetic, and ecstatic claim to emo-tional depth and contrasts such depth with an emo-tional shallowness or emptiness imputed to middle-class America. Soul radiates pureness, feeds ontruth, and "puts all you have into it." Significantly,it is a step in legitimizing black culture, an attemptto give value to blackness. To say that soul is onice is to express the fear that the black nationalistmovement is approaching futility. It is to say thatsoul and black aspirations are imprisoned by awhite morality. The nature of black oppression,

tLloyd P. Bitzer, "The Rhetorical Situation,"Philosophy and Rhetoric, Vol. 1, (Jan. 1968), p. 4.

2Charles Keil, Urban Blues, (Chicago, 1966), p. 164.

p. 177.

I0

the importance of a black culture, and the possibilityof a pluralistic society have given continual riseioblack rhetoric.4

Eldridge Cleaver's book, Soul On Ice, is one ofthe more prominent rhetorical devices of the currentblack liberation struggle. It provides a full-timerevolutionary's view of society. The manner inwhich Cleaver articulates a first-hand experienceas a black man in America serves two purposes. Headdresses black men in the hope that they mightidentify their status and react to it; he addresseswhite men in an attempt to achieve empathy withthe 'black cause.' The essence of blackness takeson a new meaning as Cleaver emphasizes the signif-icance of unity among blacks and the importance of

a black culture. Cleaver's strategy is explicit. neattempts to provoke a reaction from his audiencesin the recognition of a black culture. He wantsblack men to identify as 'brothers' and white men tounderstand racial equality. Implicit in his writingis the possibility, or perhaps the necessity, of apluralistic society. Black men can understand thisidea as a common goal; white men can understandit as a foreshadowing or even a forewarning of whatis to come. In addressing Americans, Cleaver writes,"We shall have our manhood. We shall have it orthe earth will be I leveled by our attempts to gain 105This is Cleaver's primary message to his audience;he demands an awakening by white Americans. Thistheme warrants rhetorical evaluation. The meaningsand implications of Cleaver's writing, as they relateto black oppression, black culture, and pluralisticsociety, must be examined in order to understandthis theme and ultimately to understand the blackrevolutionary mind.

In the part of the book, "Blood of the Beast,"Cleaver describes what he feels is black oppression,He quotes Prederickpouglass:

413ennett M. Berger, "Black Culture and the Planningof Pluralistic Environment," an unpublished essay,Symposium of the School of Environmental Design at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, 1967.

SEldridge Cleaver, "Initial Reactions on the Assas-sination of Malcolm X," Soul On Ice, (New York, 1968),p. 61.

"You invite to your shores fugitives of oppressionfrom abroad, honor them with banquets, greet themwith ovations, cheer them, toast them, salute them,protect them, and pour out your money to them likewater; but the fugitive from your own land you ad-vertise, hunt, shoot, and kill. You glory in yourrefinement and your universal education; yet youmaintain a system as barbarous and dreadful as everstained the character of a nation a system begunin avarice supported in pride, and perpetuated incruelty."

Cleaver charges that Americans are schizophrenic,having two contrary images of themselves. Themost alienated citizens imagine that the nation isperpetrating gross injustices and cruelities. Theirimage imputes to America fraud, impiety, deception,and hypocrisy. The contrary image projects a beliefin America as founded upon the condition of life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Cleaverreasons that because these images are contradic-tions, they had to be kept apart. He emphasizesthe significance of divided sentiment and proposesthat the white man, in an attempt to justify slaveryand segregation, created an all-pervasive mythwhich classified the black man as a "sub-humanbeast of burden." Carrying through this line ofreason, Cleaver writes that during slavery blackswere seen as "Mindless Super-Masculine Menials."The images, black and white, were based on thesocial function of the two races the work theyperformed. The ideal white man was one who knewhow to use his head; he knew how to manage andcontrol things. The ideal black man was one whofollowed instructions effectively and cheerfully. In

describing a black man's perspective to the illusionof Negro inferiority, Cleaver invents for his audiencea sexual-social myth concerning the relationships ofblack men and white women. The white man, strivingto be the brain (Omnipotent Administrator), wants the.blacks to be the muscle. The white man has turnedthe white woman into a weak bodied `sex-pots andthe black woman into a strong, self-reliant Amazon.One aspect of this myth is the applause for blackachievement in sports, but hatred for like achieve-ment in intellectual endeavors.

Cleaver's myth is rhetorically interesting as itillustrates the white man's maintenance of thestatus quo the Negro as inferior. Another deviceused to maintain this imbalance, as Cleaver under-stands it. is the labeling of everything the blacksdo with the prefix "Negro" (e.g. Negro literature,Negro athletes, Negro music, etc.). In Cleaver'seyes, this "prefixing" is but another example ofthe extent of white discrimination. Ignoring thepossibility that such labeling could be an innocentdistinction, Cleaver feels that prefixing anythingwith "Negro's automatically consigns it to aninferior category.

6Cleaver, Blood of the Mast," p. 76.

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This assumpticn becomes more believable whenone recognizes a common form of white prejudice.Whites often ask, in an attempt to substantiate at-titudes of superiority, "Why have so many Negroes,unlike the European immigrants, been unable toescape from the ghetto and from poverty?"7 TheUnited States Riot Commission Report answers bypointing to a maturing economy, an elitist politicalsystem, and to cultural factors in summarizing ahistory of discrimination.

Having portrayed the nature of black oppressionthrough myths, Cleaver addresses the reader's at-tention to a second problem among blacks, that ofidentifying a black culture. In understanding ablack culture, it is practical to conceive of an`American Negro sub-culture,' Cleaver feels thata black growing up in America is indoctrinated withthe white race's standard of beauty, exemplified inhis poem "To a White Girl".8 Charles Keil notesintricate strategies developed by blacks in an effortto cope with America. He quotes Ralph Ellison:

"Thus, since most so-called Negro-cultures outsideAfrica are necessarily amalgams, it would seem moreprofitable to stress the term culture and leave theterm Negro out of the discussion."9

Ellison contends that the Negro's time and historicsense are American, and that his secular values arethose professed by all people of the United States.He s isualizes a parody of the traditional Americanlust for material possessions conspicious con-sumption. Cleaver illustrates black obsession forAmerican status symbols in a conversation withinmates at Folsom Prison. In a quest to discoverif black men do indeed prefer white women overblack women (white indoctrination of beauty), hewas told: "I don't want nothing black but aCadillac," and, "If money was black, I wouldn'twant none of it,"

When considering the importance of a culture toblacks, one cannot underestimate or even ignoreblack accomplishments. Charles Silberman belittlesNegro culture and concludes that in contrast toEuropean immigrants, "The Negro has been com-pletely stripped of his past and severed from anyculture save that of the United States."10 Cleaverby no means ignores the existence of self-hatred,the internalization of one's oppressor's standards.He makes known an ethnic self-hatred which oftentakes the form of a racial death wish. He contendsthat many Negroes believe, as the principle of as-similation into white America implies, that the raceproblem in America cannot be settled until all tracesof the black race are eliminated. Cleaver's writing

7Otto Kerner, ed., Report of the National AdvisoryCommission On Civil bisordets, (New York, 1968), p. 1

kleaver, "Letters Prom Prison," p. 13.

9Keii, p. 6.

10Keit, p. 7

emphasizes the racial death wish of AmericanNegroes which manifests itself in the widespreaduse of cosmetics to bleach the black out of one'sskin and, in the extreme, undergoing nose-thinningand lip-clipping operations. Cleaver writes that"the price of hating other human beings is lovingoneself less."11 In Elijah Muhammad's words, "theNegro wants to be everything but 'hirnself."12

By means of an invented sexual-social myth,Cleaver translates black accomplishments and asksfor a self-pride among blacks. He portrays theblacks' 'body' image as purposive in integratingMind and Body. He writes:

"Th, bargain which seems to have been struck isthat the whites have had to turn to the blacks fora clue on how to swing with the Body, while theblacks had to turn to whites for the secret of theMind. Apparently it was Chubby Checker'smission to teach the whites how to shake theirasses again."13

Cleaver's image of Body making contact with itsMind exemplifies for the reader that special domainof Negro culture where black men have proved andpreserved their humanity. Derived is a black con-sciousness that "l've got a mind of my own." Thisfact, plus the rhetoric of the soul movement, givesstrength to black culture. The manner in whichCleaver deals with 'black culture' has an alternativerhetorical purpose. He desires acknowledgement ofracial equality and suggests the following whitereactions: "If that black ape is a man, then whatam I?"14

By relating the nature of black oppression andvoicing the importance of a black culture, Soul OnIce is implicitly con cemed with the struggle forcultural pluralism. Cleaver writes:

"To understand what is at stake here, and to under-stand It in terms of the life of this nation, is to knowthe central fact that the relationship between blackand white in America is a power equation, a powerstruggle, and that this power struggle is not onlymanifested in the aggregate (civil rights, blacknationalism, etc.), but also in the interpersonalrelationships, actions, and reactions between blacksand whites were taken into account."15

In other words, Cleaver is concerned with the con-

tradictions of cultural unity and cultural diversity.If four hundred years of hostility towards blacks isto serve as evidence, then the melting pot idea isnot a plausible solution to the black problem. WhatomergeF, as feasible is the pluralistic idea, theimage of American culture as a summation of equallylegitimate sub-cultures, largely insulated but makingoccasional contact.

11Cteaver, "Letters From Prison," p. 17.

12Berger, p. 5.

13Cleaver, "White Woman, Black Man," p. 192.

"Cleaver, "Blood of the Beast," p. 94.

"Cleaver, "Blood of the Beast," p. 118.

12

The idea of a diverse culture presupposes theconcept of pluralism, E. Franklin Frazier oncewrote that the Negro's primary struggle in America"has been to acquire a milture customs, values,and forms of expressi.., ., which, transmitted frontgeneration to generation, provides a people witha sense of its own integrity and collective identify."16American history issustrates that a group cannotachieve integration without first developing institu-tions which express and create a sense of its owndistinctiveness. The civil rights movement has notlent itself to the question of how Negroes are toacquire their own culture, but add..esses itself tolegal inequalities. The adopting of 'soul', theBlack Muslim movement, the Black Panthers, feel-ings of "I'm black and I'm proud," although counter-parts to racial separtism, represent a revival ofNegro-American nationalism. New style nationalists

advocates of Black Power view their movementas a revolution against American "colonialism."Stokely Carmichael is reported to have said, "Ourenemy is white Imperialistic Society; our struggle isto overthrow the system which feeds itself andexpands itself through the economic and culturalexploitation of non-white, non-Western peoples."17The black man is becoming aware of himself andtaking a pride in his culture. He is demanding whathe feels is his, and will literally burn the cities inan attempt to gain it. Seemingly, the fact of blackoppression has resulted in diverse interests betweenblacks and whites which, in turn, have evolved intodiverse cultures. Cleaver ultimately implies thatcultural pluralism has become the necessary meansto social harmony.

Through Soul On ice, Black Panther leader Cleavermakes an emotional appeal to America in demandingstructural changes in society. He wants a redistri-bution of power, "so that we have control over ourown lives."18 In an interview with Playboy's NatHentoff, Cleaver recounts proposals by the BlackPanther party: "We want land, we want money, wewant justice, we want peace."19 Cleaver feelsthat black people are angry about preparations forthe suppression of the black liberation struggle inthis country. He reflects upon how black people,who have had a knife in their backs for four hundredyears, are able to endure the continued escalation ofpolice force and brutality. Charles Lomas writesthat "the rhetoric of revolution sees violence asinevitable, and urges its listeners to arm and orga-

16Berger, p. 10.

17Pau1 Goodman "Reflections on Racism, Spite,Guilt, and Violence," The New York Review, Volume10, no. 10, (May 23, 1968), p. 31.

18Cleaver, "Blood of the Beast," p. 135.

19Nat Hentoff, "A Candid Conversation with EldridgeCleaver," Playboy, Volume 15, no. 12, (Chicago, Dec.1968), p. 95.

nize; but the time and place for the ultimate act willbe determined by violence initiated by the police."20Eldridge Cleaver distinguishes between two forms ofviolence violence directed at you to keep you inyour place, and violence to defend yourself againstthat suppression. He feels that if black demandsare not met, if "blackness" continues to matter,black Americans will sooner or later have to makea choice between "continuing to be victims or de-ciding to seize our freedom."

Soul is on ice, in a precarious state, danglingbetween two cultures. Evidence for alleviation ofthese conditions is found in the Negro Revolution,with emphasis on pride and identity, as well as invoting, housing, and job rights. The revolt is acall for unity among blacks, an attempt to establishsources of black power, political and economic, bywhich to press for rights, and most importantly, tolegitimize their culture. Cleaver addresses theblack American mind when he emphasizes that blackpeople as a whole must gain power. It is not aquestion of where you are geographically if you'reblack, it is a question of where you are psycholo-gically. The black nationalist movement, as in-tended by Black Panthers, attempts to organize and

concentrate its power among blacks because anamorphous thing pulling in all directions is of noavail. This concentration does not suggest thatthere is to be no inter-connection with white groupswho also recognize the need for fundamental change.Black Power is, in part, a manifestation of the NewLeft. Cleaver proposes that the initiative and futureof the black movement rests with both whites andblacks who have liberated themselves from themaster/slave syndrome. In addressing the whiteyouth of today, Cleaver hopes that they willescape the onus of history by facing and admittingthe moral truth concerning the works of their fathers.He characterizes four stages of revolution, the fourth

being in its infancy now. He writes:

"The characteristics of the white rebels which mostalarm their elders the long hair, the new dances,their love for Negro music, their use of marijuana,their mystical attitude towards sex are all toolsof their rebellion, They have turned these toolsagainst the totalitarian fabric of American societyand they mean to change it."21

Ultimately, the movement towards a culturallypluralistic society rests upon the distinction be-

tween sub-cultural preservation and social segre-gation. The success of other ethnic sub-cultures

was due to the segregation of their social systems,clear territorial boundaries, and distinctive institu-tional structures (economic, religious, political,etc.), Cleaver does not appeal for separation asderived from the "separate but equal" doctrine, inthis instance arbitrarily imposed, but for separation

ample to provide an opportunity for a full life,

"Charles Lomas, "Rhetoric of Violence," "TheAgitator in American Society," (New Jersey, 1968), p. 27.

21Cleaver, "Blood of the Beast," p. 75.13

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Soul On Ice, written in prison by a block Amer-ican, or Afro-American, not only accentuates whata black man, reacting to a society he detests,finally becomes, but also is a rhetorical plea forall Americans to open their eyes. "Souls of blackfolk," in W.E.B. DuBois' phrase, are the bestmirror in which to see the white American self inmid-twentieth century. With Cleaver's soul as anorientation, readers of this book are better able tovisualize the complexity of the black experience.

THE SPIRIT OF NANCY ASTOR

by

Kathleen Huber, Junior in Speech, University of Oregon

Nancy Astor would have laughed to be termed anorator. She once remarked, "I'm no orator and don'twant to be. I've heard too many fine phraSes fromthe emptiest heads in Europe."1 By traditionalstandards of evaluation, those standards used toevaluate the rhetorjc of another era and another sex,perhaps she would not rank high. Despite her self-deprecation, however, this Virginia-born viscountessfor a quarter of a century gave the British House ofCommons a special form of public speaking. It wasfeminine, frivolous, impetuous, brash, bold, witty,and decidedly unusual. If one could not call herone of the best orators of her time, the irrepressiblespirit and unique style which she displayed made hera speaker difficult to forget.

It would be hard to imagine a more unlikelyAmerican contribution to the British Parliament ineither background or education. She was born NancyWitcher Langhorne on May 19, 1879, "one of theFamous Five Virginians, all daughters of ChiswellDabney Langhorne, who had made a fortune buildingthe Chesapeake and Ohio across the mountains inKentucky."2 At Mirador, the family estate, youngNancy learned the graces of a genteel Virginianwoman how to be a charming hostess, how to run alarge house, and how to ride horses. Her formaleducation was scanty.3 Her sister, Irene, wasmarried to Charles Dana Gibson, and became im-mortalized as the Gibson Girl. Nancy, too, had fine

features "medium blonde with fine eyes, slenderfigure, erect, and graceful, she had the saucy mannerthat betokened the ending of the Victorian age ofwomanly demureness."4 Her marriage to Robert

Gould Shaw II in 1897 swept her as a belle from theNewport spotlight into another at Pride's Crossing,

as hostess to the Country Club set. The glitterfaded, however, upon the stark realization that her

husband was an alcoholic. In 1903 she packed ttp

her bags and her son, and divorced Shaw on statutory

1Ctement Richard Attlee, "My Most UnforgettableCharacter," Reader's Digest, LXXXV, (1964), p. 82,

2llarvey O'Connor, The Astor :, (New York: AlfredA. Knopf, 1941), p. 399.

3Attlee, p. 83.

40'Connor, p. 399,

grounds. This aversion to the unpleasant manifest-ations of alcohol later became one of her most ardentcauses in the House of Commons.

The young, attractive divorcee found her way intoeven more exciting circles when she was introducedto English society. On an ocean voyage to England,she met Waldorf Astor, son of William Waldorf Astor,a former American with a newly-acquired Britishcitizenship and title. Their relationShip blossomedby virtue of their mutual likes hunting and horses,and dislikes alcohol and tobacco. In 1906 theywere married, despite the elder Astor's disapprovalof the union of his son to both an American and a

divorcee! His wedding gifts to the couple, however,did not display any ill feelings. Waldorf was pre-sented Cliveden, an elegant mansion containingthirty guest rooms and requiring a staff of twenty torun it. To Nancy he gave a $75,000 tiara. Thus frombirth to her late twenties, Nancy Astor gave noindication of her future role as a member ofParliament.

Cliveden soon became, and remained for manyyears, the gathering place for England and America'smost celebrated and controversial people, even theKing himself. The saucy wit that charmed many wasespecially delightful to Edward VII. On one visit.Nancy Astor's "rivals tried to break up a tete-a-tetewith the King by asking them to play bridge. 'But Iwouldn't know a King from a knave,' she protested,while Edward laughed uproariously."5 Her piercingbrand of humor gave birth to other clever anecdotesand the name "Astorisms" to denote them.

In 1910, Nancy Astor's life gained a new dimen-sion when her husband was elected to a Conservativein the House of Commons from a lower-class con-stituency in Plymouth. She campaigned with him and

began to speak publicly for the first time,6 Hercampaign style was to characterize her for the restof her life: "Her technique was simple; she justgot to her feet and talked in an unihibited and spirit-ed a fashion as if she were in her drawing room.She found she enjoyed the experience."7 Through

Sibid p. 400.

6Attlee, p. 83.

14

her husband's tutelage, she learned much aboutsocial reform and political life. When the FirstWorld War broke out, the Astors opened their Cliveden

estate to the war-wounded. By visiting with thewounded servicemen, a great many from the workingclass, Nancy Astor grew to understand their problemsand their dreams. The period 1910 1919 markedthe transition from a lady of society to dedicatedpocial reformer.

In 1919 William Waldorf Astor died, making hisson the second Lord Astor, and causing him to giveup his seat in the House of Commons for a seat inthe House of Lords. At her husband's urging, LadyAstor campaigned for the seat vacated by him andwon easily. A year earlier women had received theright to vote and the world was eager to view howthis newly-acquired privilege would be used. As thefirst woman to sit in the House of Commons, Nancy,as even strangers called her, found herself in a newspotlight.

A political body, masculine from its earliest days,did not easily accept an alien in its midst. Manyresented the new female Mcnber's presence andsnubbed her.8 One of these was Winston Churchill."Later Lady Astor asked him why. Churchillcandidly explained, 'I felt when you entered theHouse of Conimons as if a woman had entered mybathroom and I'd nothing to protect myself exceptthe sponge.' To which Nancy replied, 'Did it everoccur to you that your appearance might have beenprotection enough?' "9 Under these inauspiciousconditions, the first woman member of a previouslyall-male Parliament, Nancy Astor began her politicalcareer. Perhaps out of necessity she developed herflamboyant speaking style, in an effort to get aproper hearing from her fellow Members.

How can one define a speaker whose capriciousnature seems to defy categorization and definition?I have chosen the word "spirit", broadly defined, asembodying the essential qualities of Nancy Astor'spublic speaking, "Spirit" holds the concept, of a

lively and brisk quality, an element of courage, ananimating source of inspiration and dedication, animpulsiveness, an element of feminism.

The most obvious observation about Nancy Astoris that she was a woman, a factor which so greatlyinfluenced everything she did and said. Her causeswere predominately charged with feminine motivation.Her maiden speech to the House of Commons onFebruary 24, 1920, dealt with the problems of theliquor traffic in post-World War One. She deploredthe rise of convictions of women for drunkennessfollowing the modification of war-time 'liquor controls.She then told of an incident, personnally witnessedwhen visiting one of the parts of her constituency:

p. 81,

I5

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. . DJ stopped outside a public house where Isaw a child about five years old waiting for itsmother. It did not have to wait long, Presentlyshe reeled out. The child went forward to her,but soon it retreated, Oh the oaths and curses ofthe poor woman and the shrieks of that child as Itfled from her . . That is what gces on when youhave increased drunkenness among women. I amthinking of the women and children, I am not sotremendously excited about what yot call thefreildom of the men. The men will get their freedom... I only want them to condider others.°

Again her-feminine perspective is visible uponreading her speech to the House on October 17,1939, concerning Dependent's Allowances. Acertain amount of money was given by the Govern-ment for the support of soldiers' and sailors' depen-dents, However, the scales for distribution were sodiscrepant that certain children were almost totallyneglected, Lady Astor stated: " . . all sectionsof people in the country feel strongly about theinadequacies of the allowances to children. TheGovernment cannot dodge the issue . . This demandrepresents the feeling of all sections of the countrythat even in war women and children should comefirst."11 As a woman, she was determined to up-grade living and working conditions for women. Asa mother, she sought to eliminate hunger and other

misfortunes besetting the nation's youth.One can also observe that the petite viscountess

was decidedly not an intellectual. Those who heard

her speak agreed upon this fact: "Her qualities arenot of the head, but of the heart and spirit. She isembodied emotion . . ."12 It was also agreed that"it is not her opinions . . . that make her a) un-precedented a figure in English public life, but thegallop of the spirit with which she enters the lists,her terrific pugnacity, and her gay indifference tothe formal 'respectabilities' of behavior."13 Herbest friend Lord Lothian, the former Philip Kerr,once impatiently remarked: "Oh, Nancy, wait aminute! If you'd just think two minutes on any onesubject you'd be the greatest woman in England."14

A contemporary noted: "She is clearly not an intel-lectual woman, and her influence in politics, whichis rather greater than is generally thought, is dueto purely feminine qualities. Conspicuous amongthese qualities are mother wit and a ready tongue,simplicity, :and: naturalness . . ."15

°Rrliatnentary Debates, House of Commons, CXXV,Fifth Series, cola. 1625 1626.

"Parliamentary DebaLis, House of Commons, CCCLII,Fifth Series, cols, 781 782.

12A. G. Gardiner, Portraits and Portents, (New Yorkand London: Harper and Brothers, 1926), p. 188.

13/bid., pp. 189 190,

140Tonnor, p. 431.

15Herbert Sidebotham, Pillars of the State, (London,England: Nisbet and Company, Ltd., 1921), p. 178.

4

Clearly, much of Nancy Astor's speaking successwas due not to any intellectual capacity, althoughshe was a fairly intelligent woman, but to otherfactors. Her most memorable quality was an incisivewit that knew no bounds. She began her maidenspeech with a sly reference to the reluctance of theHouse to accept her: "1 shall not begin by cravingthe indulgence of the House. This is a customaryopening remark for its speakers.] I am only tooconscious of the indulgence and the courtesy of theHouse, "16 On another occasion, a heckler tried toget the best of her. " 'Say missus, how many toesare there on a pig's foot?' Nancy's reply wasmemorable: 'Take off your boot, man, and count foryourself.' "17 Her sarcasm and audacity were notconfined to her own speechmaking. The remarks ofother Members were frequently punctuated by quipsand exclamations of "Boo!" "Rubbish!" when shedisapprOved of their views.18 Her behavior some-times drew criticism from the more sedate English:"Iler repartee in the House of Commons seems to memost often cheap and suburban . . . These word-slinging scenes with which she enlivens the Househave no vestige of dignity and are certainly notwomanly . . .9919 Nancy's irreverent attitude, althoughamusing, deflated the pompous and a bit more human.

Nancy Astor had an ability to reduce issues totheir simplest terms. She had " . . . the simple,direct logic that gets things done."20 In her maidenspeech she reduced the drink question to nationalefficiency versus national inefficiency, 21 Thequestion of dependent's allowances was reduced tothe injustice to children because the government hadmiscalculated their needs.22 It was noted of her,"In spite of her millions, it is noticeable that theaverage working man gets her woman's point of viewmuch more quickly than the average middle-classman."23 Her feminine manner of simplifying mattersto a "common-sense" approach was one of herdistinguishing characteristics.

She carried with her to the House a womanlysense of morality and propriety evident in both herspeech on Dependent's Allowances and in the FamilyAllowances Bill speech given March 8, 1945. She

16Debates, H. C., CXXV, col. 1623.

"Attlee, p. 81:

18/hid., p. 82.

"'Omega" (pseudonym, author not given), "LadyAstor." Saturday Review, CLV, p. 186.

20Sidebotham, p. 178.

21fichtites, H.C., CXXV, col. 1624.

2:2Debates, H.C., CCCLII, col. 779.

23Sidebotham, p. 176.

16

upset her fellow Members by asserting in her De-pendent's speech that an unmarried woman residingwith a soldier should receive no dependent's benefits."It has been said, 'If we do not give the allowancewhat will the girl do?' I say that if a girl lives witha man for six months when she can marry him anddoes not marry him, she is the sort of girl who willmanage somehow."24 The Family Allowances Billwas designed to allot a sum of money for necessitiesfor each child in a family. During discussion of thebill, a fellow Member stated that mothers of illegit-imate children were some of the finest women in thecountry. " . . . I cannot say that," Lady Astorreplied. "I, myself, always have thought that womenwho resist temptation are finer than women who giveway to it . . That is, where I disagree, but some ofthe finest mothers in the country are mothers of anillegitimate child, and if the Government could makea concession in respect of such children, it wouldbe a very good thing./$25

Lady Astor spoke plainly and with courage. "Ifyou are never to speak because you are afraid tocause offense, you will never say anything. I amnot in the least afraid of causing offense,"26 shesaid at the close of her career. This courage,coupled with her simple, yet forceful, speaking stylemade her Englan,d's most memorable woman speakerof her time. Nancy Astor is a study in ethos a

case where spirit and character overshadow allother aspects of rhetoric.

24Debates, H.C., CCCLII, col. 781.

25Debates, H.C., CDVIII, col. 233 ?.

261bid., col. 2334.

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EUGENE V. DEBS A CASE OF RHETORICAL FAILURE

by

Verna L. Quinn, Senior in tipeech, Park College

Eugene V. Debs, spokesman for revolutionarysocialism, was a rhetorical failure. Because hefailed to employ stylistic identifications in hisattempts to persuade, he did not adapt to audiencesin general. Professor Bernard Brommel, in hisdoctoral dissertation, notes that during Debs' speak-ing career, which spanned nearly one-half century,he made over six thousand speeches.1 Before 1897he spoke for organized labor and industrial unionism;after 1897 he was an active campaigner for revolu-tionary socialism. He was the party's candidate forPresident five times.2

Perhaps Debs' failure to adapt stemmed from hisemphasis on class struggle. According to RayGinger, his biographer, he approached every issuefrom the standpoint of class question.3 During Debs'speaking career as a revolutionary Socialist, hebased his remarks on the premise that there weretwo classes of society capitalists and wageslaves. Capitalists exploited the wage slaves;therefore, capitalism was responsible for all evilin the world. Socialism would eliminate capitalism;therefore, wage slaves should unite in politicalaction to overthrow capitalism.

By his insistence on his philosophy of classstruggle he made it difficult, if not impossible, formany persons to identify with him. For instance,in 1899 Debs made a speech to the exclusive Nine-teenth Century Club in New York City on "PrisonLabor, Its Effects on Industry and Trade." Debssaid:

I must confess that it would have suited my purposebetter had the subject been transposed so as to read:"Industry and Trade, Their Effect on Labor," for, asa Socialist, I am convinced that the prison problem isrooted in the present system of industry and trade, .

1See the unpubl. diss, (Bloomington, Indiana, 1963)by Bernard J. Brommel, "Eugene V. Debs: Spokesmanfor Labor and Socialism," Preface.

21900, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1920.

3Ray Ginger, The Bending Cross (New Brunswick,New Jersey, 1949), p. 258.

17

It is therefore with the economic system, which isresponsible for, not only prison labor, but for thegradual enslavement and degradation of all labor, thatwe must deal . . .4

First of all, twisting the topic around to hisfavorite theme probably did nothing to promote iden-tification with Debs' cause. In addition, the audi-ence should have been expected to have difficultyidentifying with conditions with which the membershad had little or no experience. Finally, his hearersmight have had considerable difficulty identifyingwith the picture Debs painted of themselves in therole of capitalist oppressors. Apparently, Debs'performance contrasted sharply with Aristotle'sdictum that in political oratory . . ." it adds muchto an orator's influence that . . . he should bethought to entertain the right feelings towards hishearers; . ."5

As the Socialist candidate for President in 1904,Debs had shown no effort to adapt to audiences ingeneral. In his iipening speech he stated:

The twenty-five millions of wage-workers in theUnited States are twenty-five millions of twentiethcentury slaves

They who buy and they who sell in the labormarket are alike dehumanized by the inhuman traffic,in the brains and blood and bones of human beings.°

Although Socialists could identify with his wordsbecause these were party doctrines mouthed overand over by the members themselves, non-Socialistscould hardly see themselves as slaves. They hadthe vote, they could go anywhere they pleased, andthey did not get off the sidewalk when the bosswalked by. If the revolutionary Socialists in par-ticular could identify with Debs, then it wouldappear that both Democrats and Republicans would

divide from him.But, Debs also experienced difficulty adapting

to organized labor. By identifying with the revo-lutionary Industrial Workers of the World,7 he iso-

4Eugene V. Debs, Debst Ria Life, Writings clodSpeeches (St. Louis, 1908), pp. 346 347.

'Aristotle, Rhetoric, trans., W. Rhys Roberts;Poetics, trans., Ingram Bywater (New York; 1954),1377b 27 28.

6Debs, p. 357.

7 iee Ginger. P. 242.

lated himself f; 4m the larger membership of theAmerican Federation of Labor who were followersof reform movements. In his Speech to the IWW in1905 Debs stated that: " . . the IndustrialWorkers , . . ultimate object is to entirely abolishthe capitalist system, . . ."8

In contrast to Debs, Samuel Gompers, leader ofthe AFL, opposed the theory that labor should fightfor socialism or for any other ultimate goal. Hisprogram was based on: "More: Here: Now."9According to H. Wayne Morgan, author of EugeneV. Debs: Socialist for President, Gompers onceSaid to Debs: " . . . I am not only at variance withyour doctrines, but with your philosophy. Eco-nomically you are unsound; socially you are wrong;industrially you are impossible."10 Debs' revolu-tionary aims therefore, instead of uniting labor,divided it, and delivered the largest organizedlabor group,11 the trade unions, into the reformcamp.

In 1908 Eugene Debs was given the party nomi-nation for President for the third time. He openedhis campaign in the quiet little town of Girard,Kansas. Debs told his listeners:

In this system we have one set who are calledcapitalists, and another set who are called workers;and they are at war with each other.

Eighty per cent of the people of the United Stateshave no property today. A few have got it all. Theyhave dispossessed the people, and when we get intopower we will dispossess them.12

Furthermore, in speaking of farmers, Debs toldhis audience in Girard that'

After his hard day's work is done, here he sits inhis little shack. He is fed, and his animal wantsare satisfied.

He knows nothing about poetry or art. Never risesabove the animal plane upon whica he i living . . .

That is life under the present standard.°

However, census records show that farming inGirard and the surrounding areas of Crawford County,Kansas, had taken a sharp upward swing in thedecade between 1900 and 1910. Farm property, in-cluding land, buildings, livestock and machinery,had more than doubled in value in those ten years.Between eighty and ninety per cent of farm land inCrawford County was above average in quality andvalue. 14

8Debs, p. 395.

9Ginger, p. 257.

1('H. Wayne Morgan, Eugene V. Debs: Socialist forPresident (New York, 1962), p. 61.

"Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of theUnited States, Colonial Times to 1957 (Wash., D.C.,1960), 0735 740, p. 97.

12Debi, pp. 488 489.

131b/d., p. 484.

14Dept. of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census,Thitteeilth Census of the United States Taken in the Year1910, Vol. VI, Agriculture (Wash., D.C., 1913), pp. 554556,

Mr. Henderson Martin, Chairman of the DemocraticState Committee for Kansas, stated after the Repub-licans won the 1908 election that: " . . I believethe prosperity argument was the most potent oneagainst us in Kansas. It appealed to the farmer withsuch force as to persuade him to overcome his admi-ration for Bryan, his fear of Wall Street dominationand vote the Republican ticket."15 Since farmersin general around the area did not fit Debs' descrip-tion, it is difficult to see how very many could havefound meaning, and thus identification, in his cause.

The campaign of 1908 featured the Red Special,a chartered train, decked with red bunting and load-ed with Socialist literature. In sixty-five days,18.as the train travelled from coast to coast, Debsspoke to 500,00017 persons.

As the bank played the "Marseillaise"18 andthe crowd waved red flags19 passed out to them bythe Socialist workers, Debs mounted the platformand preached the overthrow of capitalism. Themusic and the red flags identified him with Europeansocialism before he even began to speak. It is high-ly probable that the audience could have identifiedmore readily with him if he had associated himselfwith "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the Americanflag. In the same manner the words "masses, pro-letariat, revolution, overthrow, comrade, and bour-geoisie" all had European connotations.

In California, Debs encountered his strongestopposition. Here too, Debs did not say much topromote identification with his causes For instance,Brommel relates that in Berkeley a member of theaudience asked: "If socialism went into effect, . . .

how would it affect the Supreme Court and the Con-stitution of the United States?" Debs answeredthat: "If socialism went into effect, . . . we wouldnot be ruled by a Constitution a hundred and twentyyears old, or governed by the dead."20 It is fairlysafe to assume that Americans who had long reveredthe Constitution as the next thing to holy writ wouldnot be inclined to identify with either Eugene Debsor socialism.

In view of the Socialist prediction of one and one-half million votes, the election of 1908 was a disap-pointment. The Socialist total of 420,793 was onlyfour per cent higher than that of 1904, 402,283.21

18

15"PROSPERITY WON IN KANSAS DemocraticChairman Admits It Was an Invincible Argument,"Kansas City Journal, November 5, 1908, p. 4.

18Brotnmel, p. 106.

"Ginger, p. 283.

18Morgan, p. 103.

lgibid., p. 106.

"Brommel, pp. 88 89. Drommel's source is TheBerkeley independent, September 12, 1908, p. 1.

21Historical Statistics, Y27 31, p. 682.

and less than three per cent of the total vote east.The total vote east in the United States in 1908 wasup ten per cent over that of 1904, indicating that thefour per cent rise in the Socialist vote fell far shortof their reasonable share of the increase.

In retrospect, David A. Shannon, author of TheSocialist Party of Anirica, observes in relation tothe Socialist election campaigns, that: "If all thepeople who subscribed to the Appeal to Reason toread Debs' editorials, and who paid their money tohear Debs speak, had voted for Debs as they cheeredfor Debs, his percentage of the popular vote wouldhave been considerably higher than it ever was."22

Perhaps one can gain some insight into Debs'failure by noting Kenneth Burke's statement thatthe rhetorician who wants to change his audience'sopinion in one respect can only succeed insofar ashe yields to his audience's opinions in other re-spects.23 Debs yielded to nothing except his ownconscience. According to Ginger: "His consciencewas the Great Umpire, and Debs was the only spec-tator near enough to hear the umpire's decisions."24One who identifies with rigidity divides from adap-tation. Brommel says that in 1911, " . Debscautioned his .ollowers to keep out of the partythose who would not endorse socialism as a work-ing class revolutionary enterprise. He feared thatthe party might become 'permeated and corruptedwith the spirit of bourgeois reform to an extentthat would practically destroy , irility and ef-ficiency as a revolutionary organization."25

As the war years loomed. Debs found anotherevil to blame on capitalism. The culmination ofhis anti-war speaking came in Canton, Ohio, onJune 16, 1918. He maintained that:

Wars throughout history have been waged forconquest and plunder . .. The feudal barons of theMiddle Ages, the economic predecessors of thecapitalists of our day, declared all wars. And theirmiserable serfs fought all the battles Themaster class has always declared the wars; thesubject class has always fought the battles.26

Debs was arrested four days after this speechand charged on four counts with violating the Es-pionage Act. His trial was held September 11, 1918,in the Federal Court at Cleveland, Judge Weston-haver presiding.27 Debs appeared as the onlywitness for the defense. His audience was a very

22Dav id A. Shannon. The Socialist Party of America(New York. 1955), p. 263.

23Kenneth A. Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives (New York,1955, p. 56.

24oinger p. 261.

25t3rommel, p. 109.

26A. M. Schlesin ger, Ir.. ed., Writings and Speechesof Eugene V. beim (New York, 1948), p. 425.

"Houston Peterson, ed., A Treasury of the World'sGreat Speeches (New York, 1054), p. 722.

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BEST COPY AVAILABLEselect group, each of the twelve jurors being aboutseventy-two years of age and worth from fifty tosixty thousand dollars each. All were retired frombusiness; seven were former merchants or farmers.28Debs made no apparent attempt to adapt to his jury.He said to them:

Standing before you, charged as I am with crime, Ican yet look the court in the face, I can look you inthe face, I can look the world in the face, for in myconscience, in my soul, there is festering no ac-cusation of guilt .

I would not retract a word that I have uttered thatI believe to be true to save myself from going tothe penitentiary for the rest of my days.

I admit being opposed to the present socialsystem. I am doing what little 1 can, tobring about a change that shall do away with therule of the great body of the people by a relativelysmall class and establish in this

29country an in-

dustrial anti social democracy.

Although no one knows what decision the jurywould have brought in had Debs adapted to them,it is equally clear that his failure to adapt countedagainst him. The New York Times reports thatJudge Westonhaver in passing sentence stated:"I appreciate defendant's sincerity, I may admirehis courage, but I cannot help wishing he mighttake better note of facts as they are in the worldat the present time. "30

Clearly, Debs, the apostle of revolutionarysocialism, failed to adapt his message to audiencesin general. His unyielding commitment to classstruggle made his task of persuasion extremelydifficult. In his analysis of American, socialism,Shannon31 has pointed out that there was no feudaltradition in America, no aristocracy based on birthagainst which the middle class needed to revolt.The citizen had always had the vote which leftonly social and economic lines between him andpropertied men. The abundance of cheap landmade property ownership possible to a largenumber of people. The growth of the economymade possible a high degree of class mobility.The able and ambitious matte the rags-to-richestransition a visible fact. The relative successof American capitalism produced a betterstandard of living for each generation that wasjust a little bit better than the last. In addition,Americans held "a pragmatic view of life" thatdemanded "visible and practical results, and the

28Ginger, p. 364.

29Schlesinger, pp. 433 434.

30New York Times, September 23, 1918, P. 7

31See Shannon, pp. 264 268.

quicker the better." They rejected the vaguepromises of the revolutionary Socialist in favor ofthe "half-a-loaf" offered at the time by the reformand progressive parties

Debs was a man following the path he set forhimself looking neigher to right nor left. Fie ap-peared to be so rigid to his thinking that he wasunable tc adapt satisfactorily to audiences.

On his deathbed Debs scrawled on a pad ofpaper with a shaky hand:

It mars not how straight the gate,Flow charged with punishment the scroll,I am the master of my fate,I am the aptdin of my soul.3~

32Ginger, p. 456. From "Invi,7tus" by WilliamErnest Henley.

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BEST COPY AVAILABLE

STOKLEY CARMICHAEL: JAll ARTIST

by

Larry Richardson, Graduate in Speech, Western Washington State College

Three tragic, bewildering years have passed sincethe June evening in Greenwood, Mississippi, when"Black Power" as a term was unleashed by StokelyCarmichael. His oratory became the "Magna Carta"of a protest movement which may shape the destinyof America. The rhetorical significance and impli-cations of Carmichael and black power have beenestablished;' yet no critic Isas noted that Carmichael'soratory may be a natural outgrowth of Negro culture,especially its music. Carmichael's oratory containsthe elements of content, organization, and style thatare analogous to the unique Negro art of Jazz.

The relationship is natural. The arts of anyculture function as a nonverbal storehouse of famil-iar forms and materials which any speaker can adaptas solutions to the practical problems of persuasion.Carmichael has drawn both form and content from thestorehouse of jazz for his speeches to "brothers."Certain stipulations must be posited which applyequally to jazz and to Carmichael's oratory.. Orvil Dankworth characterizes pure jazz as "aspecific kind of music .. . with quite strict rules,""an improvisatory art," "a feeling, a style."2Jazz is a small group thing that requires interactionboth internally within the group, and externally withthe audience. Likewise, Carmichael's oratory ingroup oriented with interaction vital to the desiredeffect. Jazz is also an "in-group" activity thatcomes alive only with the initiated. Likewise,Carmichael's oratory comes fully alive only whendesigned for an audience of "brothers." The Boston3and Whitewater4 speeches illustrate Carmichael'sadaptation to white audiences, containing "dignified"

iFor example, see:Robert L. Scott, "Justifying Violence The

Rhetoric of Militant Black Power." CSSJ, XIX (1968),96 104.

Wayne Brockriede and Robert L. Srott, "TwoSpeeches on Black Power," MI, XIX (1968), 130.

Parke G. Burgess, "The Rhctoric of Black Power:A Moral Demand?," (VS, XLIV (1968), 122 133.

2Orvil Dankworth, Jazz: An Introduction to ItsMusical Basis (London, 1968), p. vii.

3Leon Friedman, ed., The Civil Rights Redder(New York: Walker and Company, 1967), pp.139 148.

4Robert L. Scott and Wayne Brockriede, The Rhetoricof Black Power (New York: Harper and Row, 1969),pp. 96

2t

and "tame" messages. The Berkeley5 and Detroit6speeches are examples that illustrate the thesis ofthis study, and involved black or pro-black poweraudiences.

In terms of message, Stokely Carmichael is "sing-ing the blues" in the jazz tradition that grew out ofthe Negro spiritual.

Oh, nobody knows de trouble I've seenGlory, hallelujah

Langston Hughes states:The blues are almost always sad songs, sojgsabout being out of work, broke, hungry, far awayfrom home .. . behind the sadness, there isalmost always laughter and strength.?

The blues lyric organizes sadness and strengtharound a statement of hardship, a wish to escape tothe promised land, and a coating of irony or humor;these elements are apparent in Carmichael's oratoryas he describes white exploitation of black people:

The missionaries came with the Bible and we hadthe land; when they left, they had the land, and westill had the Bible.8

Black power becomes the promised land, attainablebut vague:

And in order to get out of that oppression one mustwield the group power that one has, not the individualpower which this country then sets as the criteriaunder which a man may come into it.9

The same approach to message was employed in theDetroit speech:

... It's only because we don't own and control ourcommunities that they are the way they are.

You've got to tell them that if we've got themoney, the same amount of money that they put intotheir suburban schools, that we put in our schools,that we would produce black people who are justas capable of taking care of business, as they'reproducing white people. They've been stealingour money (applause) that's where the problemexists. 10

SCharles M, Lomas. The Agitator in American Society(Englewood Cliffs, N.,1.: Prentice-Hall, 1968).

8Scott and Brockriede, The Rhetoric of flack Power,pp. 84 95.

?Langston Hughes, First I:luok of Jazz (New York:Watts, 1954), p. 21.

gt.omas, pp. 140 141.

`Lomas, p. 141.

10Scott and Brockriede, Rhetoric, pp, 87 88,

The "blues" message has been identified anddiscussed by more moderate Negro leaders whobelieve that black power rhetoric is counter-productiveto the long-range goals of the black man, and evenharmful to the Negro psyche. In his last speech,Dr. Kink said: "1 think the aura of paramilitarismamong the block militant g;oups speak.; much moreof fear than it does of confidence."11

Dr. Kenneth Clark, noted Negro psychologist,characterizes the rhetoric as retrogressive, sourgrapes thinking generated by the current status ofthe black man "at the threshold of a non-segregatedsociety." Clark points to the frustration caused bytension between the legal right to pass through thedoor of racial equality and the absence of trainingand background prerequisite to passage. Heconcludes:

t3lack hati retre..t from thepossibility of Olt- a intacta of :he goals of anyseriotr; integration to Amertva.

It ut ottmpt t:: mkt rbal virtue ofinvoluntary ray tat . the sour grapesphenomenon of Ow Antoci( on racial scene. 12

The message of Stokely Carmichael, though oftenviewed by whites as new and different, can be betterUnderstood and appreciated as an oratorical versionof the message of Negro spirituals and jazz blues.Its acceptance by blacks is indicative of the currentstate of the ghetto psyche.

Jazz relates to music as oratory relates tolanguage. Interaction between performer or speakerand the audience characterizes both media andproduces a unification of style and organization intodefinable stylistic devices. Carmichac' appears todraw heavily upon the stylistic devices developedby jazz musicians: individualization, aggressiveuse of materials, improvisation, omission, ,epetition,and audience participation.

The jazz man individualizes his style throughcombinations of "sound," and melodic and rhythmictendencies recognizable to initiates as unique to anindividual. A few seconds of Charlie Parker orColeman Hawkins on a recording is identifiable.Stylistic uniqueness can be recognized in StokelyCarmichael's oratory, a unique, identifiable andmemorable gestalt that amounts to "doing his thing,"The jazz man swings and Stokely "tells it like it is,"projecting his very personal image to those who dig.

As the jazz musician uses sound for his material,Carmichael uses style and organization in the sameaggressive manner. Carmichael's use of language,which is the major factor in explaining his considerableimpact on white sensibilities, is much less extremewhen viewed as jazz performance. la jazz themusician regularly tests the norms of musical con-vention. lie employs large skips,extrerne ranges andregisters, and shocking timbre as he improvises his

111"klng,a Last Tape," Now:, week. Dv,:r.nriber 16, l'168.

1kenneth H. Clark, "The Pre,ient Dilemma of the Negro,"orwil of Negro iftct,ta 1.111.1968), 5.

22

melodic lines, He makes his instrument squeak,honk, and moan. His facility is a mark of excellencein technique and individuality, The extreme becomesthe norm when compared to "legitimate" music,

That many of the sounds of jazz have figurativeor literal sexual symbolism is accepted; the jazzmusician is willing to portray human experienceconsidered taboo by "squares," and that willingnessis one reason for the gap between the initiated andthe masses in appreciating jazz.

Similarly, Mr. Carmichael uses his material.aggressively, exceeding the norms of verbal con-vention. All white American are "honkies." Theliberal who employs a Negro maid and the youth whoparticipated in the Mississippi Project stand con-demned for their lack of sensitivity. Negro integre-tionists are called "Whitey Young" and "Uncle TomWilkins,"

Carmichael makes rhetorical use of four-letterwords and sexual allusions. Illustrating how thepress had distorted news of the Alabama FreedomParty by calling it the Black Panther Party becauseof its ballot symbol, he suggested that the whiterooster of the regular party be subjected to the sametreatment. "Our question is, why don't they call theAlabama Democratic Party the White Cock Party?"13

Jazz is improvisation as Stokely Carmichael'srhetoric is extemporaneous, adaptive, and innovative.In jazz this element elevates the performer to thesupreme position, superior to the tunestnith who firstcomposed the basic material, While the basic se-quence of chords and relative duration values areretained by the performer, he produces a melodicline that is his own creation.

Likewise, Stokely Carmichael is an improvisor.His style, concepts, and combinations representunique and interesting arrangement and his im-provisation on syllogistic reasoning illustrates hisimprovisation. In the Berkeley speech he said:

So people have been telling you anything all blackis bad. Let's make that our major premise. Majorpremise: Anything all black is bad. Minor premiseor particular premise: I am all black. Therefore ,(delayed applause and laughta0 I'm never going tobe put in that bag.14

Conventional material was here employed in a patternof improvisation, The chordal structure of the jazztune could be likened to the structure of the syl-logism which was familiar material to the college-age audience as the tune is familiar to the jazz fan.

Further illustration is found in the way thatCarmichael adapted his syllogism to the all blackaudience in Detroit:

There's a thing called a syllogism, And it sayslike, if you're born in Detroit, you're beautiful;that's the major premise, The minor premise is -tam born in Detroit. Therefore, I'm beautiful.

13Lomas, p. 140

14Lomas, p. 140

anything all black is bad major premise. Mtnorpremise I'm all black, Therefore (pause) yeah,yeah, (laughter and applause) yeah. You'l: allout there, and the man telling you about yourself,and you don't know it.ls

Seldom does a jazz man play a tune the very someway twice, although it is often the same. ThatStokely Carmichael is an improvisor is apparent,both in terms of invention and subsequent ideaadaptation,

Jazz musicians frequently omit notes from phrases;Carmichael omits expected content elements. CharlieParker recorded many solos where melodic lines hadomitted notes; that is, in the course of an improvisedline he would establish a harmonic direction and thenomit sounds, The tendency of the line would leadthe listener to mentally fill in the missing sounds,whether they occurred during or at the ends of phrases.The effect is widely used and succeeds in mentallyinvolving listeners as participants instead of passiveobservers.

Stokely. Carmichael also uses omission in threeways words, lines of arr :cut, and answers toquestions are omitted. In the Berkeley speech,Carmichael says:

We must now set a criteria, and if there.i, goingto be any integration it's going to be a two-way thing.

Or

We must question the values of this society. and Imaintain that black people are the bast people to dothat, because we have been excluded from thatsociety, and the question is, we ought to thinkwhether or not we want to become a part of thatsociety, 16

White Americans might have difficulty with thissyntax, but the initiate knows what is implied: hefills in the details from his own experience, as inthe classic enthymeme. The "syllogism ploy" dis-cussed earlier is another example of omission usedsuccessfully in the Berkeley speech and the Detroitspeech,

Repetition is another device common to jazzmusicians and Carmichael. While frequently observedin many art forms, its literal character is notable inthis particular comparison. The jazz riff is melodicrepetition, while the ride beat and bass pattern isrepetitive rhythmic permeatation; both are basic tojazz structure, Endings are frequently repeated injazz. Often repeated materials are compressed whenwhen repeated.

Carmichael made considerable use of the latterform of jazz repetition; a literal or compressed re-play of the last part of a sentence or of the finalsentence of a paragraph. An example is found inthe Berkeley speech:

15Scott and Brockriede, p. 88.

161,omas, p. 146,

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BEST COPY AVAILABLEI don't want any of your blood money. I don't wantit, don't want any part of that system. And thequestion is how do wq raise those questions? Howdo we raise them , how do we begin to raisetherm? 17

The rhythmic prose found throughout Carmichael'soratory is notable and, like all artistic rhythm, isbased on the repetition of patterns. While thecomparison of jazz rhythm with anything else isdifficult, a sense of rhythmic comparability can befelt between Carmichael's oratory and jazz. Throughboth literal and compressed repetition, Carmichaelmakes maximum use of rhythm. Its effect is the sameas in jazz, and Carmichael swings.

Finally, the jazz man and Stokely Carmichaelshare a capacity to elicit and exploit audienceparticipation. While the modem jazz setting is muchmore subdued than in earlier days, a strong linkbetween performer and audience remains, finding itsexpression in more subtle ways. Polite attentionduring performance, applause at ends of choruses,fraternization between numbers, and subtle rhythmicmovement of audience members are acceptablebehaviors in intimate jazz spots. However, at thelarge jazz festivals, audiences are more demon-strative boistrous applause, cheering, and whis-tling are means by which they feed back approval ofthe music. In either setting, jazz men perform betterwhen interaction is strong. They will always go`cone more time" when the crowd is digging.

Stokely Carmichael elicits overt audience responsein the form of applause, laughter, or audience com-ment and then reacts to their response whichgenerates more response. There are instances whereeach sentence in a paragraph waF followed by ap-plause of increased intensity the speaker and

audience rising together in a crescendo that con-tinued long beyond the final wcrds of the ideasequence. The Detroit speech is typical:

You send a black man to Vietnam to fight for rights,and he doesn't have any rights in his homeland, he'sa black mercenary. You send a black man to Vietnamand he gets shot and killed fighting for his country;and you bring him home, and they won't bury him inhit. land he's a black mercenary. (applause) lie'sa black mercenary (continued applause). And if wegoing to be black rr.. -entities they ought to pay ustwenty five thousand ,ollars a year and let us comehome every weekend (laughter and applause). Sincethey arc not gOing to do that, we are going to have todevelop in our communities enough internal strengthto tell everyone in this country that we're not goingto your damn war, period. (shouts and applause)We've got to do that (continued applause)."The rhetoric of Stokely Carmichael has been

perceived literally by too many white Americans.The backlash component of recent political eventsis an indication of the anxiety produced by thisliteral interpretation.

"Lomas, p. 146,

t8Scott and t3rockricde, Rhetoric, pp, 89 90

1...eRoi Jones, black poet, playwright, and jazzcritic comments:

Form and content are both mutually expressive ofthe whole. And they are both equally expressivet 4:1 has an identifying motif and function. We wantdifferent content and different forms because we havediffereni ft..elings. We are different peoples.v)

White Americans might better adjust to the realityof black power if they view the message as a newerversion of tin old thought pattern growing out of theNegro's life experience. The pattern is manifestedin the form of jazz and its message, style, andorganization hove been experienced and appreciatedby many whites. Through the idiom, whites havegained insight and empathy about the world of theblack man.

America must resolve the conflict between theraces in a manner acceptable to Negroes and whites.A first step may well be a decision on the part ofwhites to perceive black rhetoric at a more sophis-ticated level than mere literality, A broader culturalappreciation .offers direction for a mature and intel-ligent interpretation that scholars may find usefulin fulfilling their obligation to interpret information

for the broader community.

1()LeRoi Jones, Black Music (New York: William.Morrow and Company. 1967), p, 185,

24