Project 2

200 word audience grabber

No Guns Allowed

Hello, my name is Shaky’ra Holmes and today I will be giving my Rhetorical Analysis on a social- justice related article “Opinion: Gun Violence Crisis in America’s Cities” by Greg Fischer Mayor of Louisville and the President of the United States Conference of Mayors, Eric Garcetti Mayor of Los Angeles, Lori Lightfoot Mayor of Chicago, and Brandon Scott Mayor of Baltimore. All four are members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. (Article from CNN Opinion Board)

In January, these mayors met along with hundreds of other mayors for the US Conference of Mayors winter meeting to discuss gun violence,support each other and figure out ways to tackle this crisis. What they learned was deeply unsettling. Many cities are facing not one, but two public health crises at the same time: Covid-19 and increased gun violence. Their main focus was on the affects of gun violence on their cities. The Mayors feel that this crisis will not be solved if they are continually forced to fight it alone. The mayors state that they have seen a 57% increase in firearm homicides and a 70% increase in non fatal shootings.. Immediate action is needed! After a full year of this violence, it's clear that this increase won't disappear without action. It could linger long after the last American receives a coronavirus vaccine.

According to the article the mayors welcome the Biden administration, they however, are also sounding the alarm. Our country can't continue to overlook the record-breaking number of shootings in our cities, underfund evidence-based intervention programs, like local outreach programs which employ credible messengers to go out into communities to de-escalate violence, and hospital-based violence intervention programs, that connect gunshot victims with counselors to prevent retaliation. And, more importantly it can't continue to turn a blind eye to the Black and Latino communities in cities that are bearing the brunt of this daily gun violence.

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