Analyse af Kareem Abdul-Jabbars artikel om race

The concept of race is a controversial topic. For many years, there have been many racial conflicts around the world especially between white and black people in the USA. In the article “Let Rachel Dolezal Be as Black as She Wants to Be” from 2015 by former NBA champion and league MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, discusses whether people should be allowed t to choose which race they prefer to belong to. More specifically, Jabbar focus on race matters considering the case with Rachel Dolezal. Where he uses himself as an example and his own opinion.

Jabbars main claim is that it doesn’t matter how you look and which skin color you have as long you are good at what you do. To argue for his main claim, Jabbar makes up a story about being shorter than what the internet states: “Although I’ve been claiming to be 7’2” for many decades, the truth is that I’m 5’8”” (ll. 16-17). As an NBA Campion, Jabbar has won several medals and by doing that, he shows that his appearance has nothing to do with his achievements. He uses himself as an example, because he lies about his high like she lies about her race. By doing that he compares an unimportant thing with an “important” ting as if race has no meaning. In that way he makes fun of people, who think of race as an important thing. Jabbar includes research which says that Rachel must decide for herself what race she wants to be, because there is no such thing as race: “The thing about race is that, scientifically, there is no such thing. As far back as 1950, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) released the conclusions of an international group of anthropologists, geneticists, sociologists, and psychologists that stated that the concept of race was not a scientific entity but a myth” (ll. 50-54). In this way he shows that it is not genetic, but a myth. He shows this by using logos because it is factual. In the article Jabbar uses different forms of appeal to argue for his points. To strengths his message, he appeals to ethos, this can be seen where he involves himself and talks about his satiation.