Action and Rhetoric in Seattle's Freedom Patrols - A Study of Protest Activity by a Local Social Movement

• NCJ Number: 87984
• Author(s): L S Richardson
• Date Published: 1976
• Length: 32 pages
• Sale Source: Eric Document Reproduction Service; Not Available Through National Institute of Justice/NCJRS Document Loan Program
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Speech Communication Association, San Francisco, November 1976

Annotation

This paper provides a rhetorical analysis of a protest action, namely, the mobilization and action of black citizens in Seattle, Washington, in reaction to the 1965 shooting of a black man (Robert L. Reese) by a local police officer. A description of actions during this time, as reported by two Seattle newspapers, is provided.

Abstract

An extrinsic examination of the situation probes the rhetorical problem of police brutality and explains the formation of the Freedom Patrols, nonviolent groups of concerned black-community members who were devoted to justice. Finally, an intrinsic examination is provided of the Freedom Patrols' organization and actions, their effect on the news media, and the ultimate public identification of the discrepancy between the police department's own description of its behavior and attitude toward blacks and that department's actual behavior and attitude. (Resources in Education (ERIC) abstract)