DaeShianna McCants

2/21/2016
Rhetoric Analysis

Punishment or Child Abuse?

Child abuse has been around for decades but a lot of the time people fail to realize
when it is going on or report those who are doing it. The article I have found talks about
punishment or abuse within race. Michael Eric Dyson brings up the case of Adrian Peterson
and how he was going to court for spanking beating his 4-year-old. A lot of the people say
black people are aggressive or to aggressive when it comes to spanking their kid. In this
rhetoric analysis I will talk about how Michael Eric Dyson talks about black history and how
slavery leads to a lot of acts on todays society of African Americans.
In this article Professor Dysons does not have a specific audience that he is trying to
get his point across. With this subject it is a very important issue that it not talked about nor
is the problem fixed so he talks to a general group of people and trys to inform everyone
about child abuse or more of why black do it and a reasoning behind it. Though he makes his
point towards the general public he also wants African American families to understand a
little more where the abuse comes from. An intended audience that he could be talking to
was organizations that are against child abuse and those who say that black parents are to
aggressive when it comes to punishing their kids
Dysons argument is that African Americans child abuse comes from the days of
slavery. He states that back in the day the slaves most likely the mothers of children would

beat their kids for two reasons one to show the slave owners that they would apply to their
rules and instead of the white men beating their kid they would do it. He then brings up the
similarity of todays problems with trigger happy cops and African Americans feel that the
only power they have is to control the way the kids act around white cops now a days.
African Americans have absorbed the practice of beating and now they have reproduced it.
He also says that because parents believe that whatever happened to them they feel that they
need to do it to their kids. It is something that is passed down, like myth stories that are
passed down to kids. The reason behind this article that stated his argument was after the
Adrian Peterson case and he uses that to show the question punishment or child abuse? For
those who dont know Adrian Peterson was going to court after they found out he was
beating his 4 year old son with a switch leaving lashes on his body. To others that is child
abuse but to those of the African American culture and Adrian Peterson it is only
punishment. The point of discipline is to transmit values to children it is not to hurt them
physically. Granted there are children that are abused and it is not to teach them about values.
Dyson establishes his credibility in many ways. First, he lets the reader know that he
physically experienced child abuse in his home. When he was 16 years old he said and I
quote I cannot forget the feeling, as a 16 year old, of my body being lifted from the floor in
my fathers muscular grip as he cocked back his fist to hammer me until my mothers cry
called him off. Now for him it does not sound like his father was doing it to punish him it
was just because his dad was very aggressive as he says. His credibility by having credentials
in sociology and as an African American professor he studies topics like this one. He also
showed cause and effect between the blacks and whites then to blacks and whites now. For

example the harsh punishment of slavery had its effect in the African American culture. Our
ancestors were beat by the white men not for punishment but abuse and slaves felt they
would be the ones to beat their kids so the white men did not have to and today kids are
basically taught that beating is for their own good. We all know about slavery so he used
facts about that to give his credibility to the topic. . Dysons audience does not really have so
much reputation because it is a general population so there reputation isnt really known.
Dyson does come off as trustworthy because of his knowledge with sociology and because of
his personal experience.

The emotions the author evoked were more than just one. He uses pathos to express
the horrible times that blacks went through during slavery, though he does not describe any
of the details about slavery since we all know the history behind it we (African Americans)
happen to get this emotion of anger and fear because what was did to our ancestors was
terrible and to this day there is still racism. You always hear how black people are very
aggressive and they are shot for a reason yet it is something that we have learned to do, its
like a habit. Another emotion he evoked is a questioning feeling it should make people
question what really goes on in homes and that we need to be able to tell the difference
between child abuse and punishment.
Dyson did not really use any evidence to back up his claim. He did use a part from
psychiatrists William H. Grier and Price M. Cobbs wrote in Black Rage an examination of
psychological black lives that says beating in child-rearing actually has its psychological
roots in slavery. Aside talking about how black people suffered beatings from their masters

and also how a lot of young black men lose their lives daily to white cops that alone shows
and gives us evidence because we see it in our daily news and our history books. Even
though there is not much evidence he uses scientifically in this article he does use the other
psychiatrist work and they did a study. Dyson has a very well structured argument, he
explains to us why he is talking about this topic, the background behind his information, his
personal experience and then back to talking about the incident with Adrian Peterson.
When reading his article the tone is very serious but they also recorded him on a
video and the facial expression he gives was very serious he wanted to make his point and
you can tell in his face that he was serious, but at the same time that the allegations made
were shocking. He tries to persuade the audience by letting them know that we need to look
more about punishment and child abuse and a reason why blacks act the way they do it does
not justify anything but it gives us a little background information of where violence in
black homes start and comes from.
In conclusion there are a lot of cases of child abuse that may go as punishment and
there are cases where some child abuse cases are taken wrong when all it is punishment.
When it comes down to it all cases are bad and need to be looked at and reported. Child
abuse does not only happen in black families but all families and it has effects on kids in
their near future. No kid should have to go through any physical or any harm like that. Our
younger generation is our future and needs to be looked after a little better.