Jesse Jackson's Speech Analysis

The United States of America has long been known as a melting pot of cultures that indulge into a rich history that unite everyone as a nation. Jesse Jackson said in his 1984 Democratic National Convention Address that, “America is not like a blanket...America is more like a quilt: many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread(americanrhetoric.com).” Jesse Jackson and Pope Francis have both addressed American Congress members as well as World leaders on the importance of making the nation better. While both attempt to play on their audience’s ethos, pathos, and logos, Pope Francis is more effective at reaching a universal audience that is more willing to accept a hopeful message of love.
In 2015 on his first tour of The United States, Pope Francis made an address to Congress, he opens the speech citing the famous insignia of this nation, “The land of the free and the home of the brave.
(TIME)” Pope Francis states that it is the duty of politicians to ensure the growth of their nation while protecting the most vulnerable of its people. In the Bible, Moses frees the Jews from the enslavement brought upon them by the Egyptians and delivers them to the promised land of Israel. Before the Jews reach Israel, Moses is confronted by God to tell His people a new set of laws, The Ten Commandments. During his address, Pope Francis brings up Moses to create a metaphor of the work politicians must do, create laws for the people to live by while working to protect the people being served. The year of this address is also the one hundred and fifteenth anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the Pope chose to include that date to signify an American hero that we ought to hope to emulate in times of great strife in the world. Currently there are wars being fought and incredible acts of violence are taking place in the name of God or religion, and every establishment of any caliber can fall victim to extreme measures and individual delusions of grandeur. The Pope is trying to make the point to Congress that in any circumstances, individuals have the ability to wreak havoc on the masses, but the job of public figures is to prove that the one is not the
whole and prevent the extremes from truly damaging the unit. “But there is another temptation which we must especially guard against: the simplistic reductionism which only sees good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners,” this statement was included in the speech to warn against the figureheads conforming to a one unit equals a whole mentality, the politicians must work to restore the hope and order of their people to unite as one and not to alienate groups for the actions of few (TIME). He then goes on to say how important tolerance is when faith is on the line to face the destruction and terrorism that is ravaging our current world, citing the Golden Rule (Mt. 7:12).The Papal speech references such American leaders as President Lincoln, MLK Jr., Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton in an effort to showcase what leadership truly is and what traits need to be focused on by politicians. Pope Francis explains that good leadership is following in those American’s footsteps and work to promote liberty, freedom, social justice, and an open dialogue about what is truly going on and what solutions can be sought out. Finally the address is ended by commenting on the importance of the family unit and how it is a resource to be preserved to help protect the future of the youth.

In 1984 Jesse Jackson gave a speech to the Democratic National Convention on what he believed was the best path the party needs to follow for the election.
Jackson says, “Leadership must heed the call of conscience, redemption, expansion, healing, and unity, for they are the key to achieving our mission. Time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative, leaders change things,” because he believes that those calls to action cannot truly change the world without a strong leader driving those forces (americanrhetoric.com). Jackson begins to urge his fellow Democrats to vote for the candidate they believe would give the nation the best opportunity, as Jackson would support either of the two candidates who became the Democratic Presidential Candidate. He continues on to say he hopes to have given guidance to his party but adds a touch of humility by apologizing for any discomfort or pain he caused in his lower points during the election cycle. Jackson refers to the Rainbow Coalition and its mission of seeking justice and acceptance of all peoples and all races, especially those who cannot use their own voice to fight their battles. The Rainbow Coalition was brought up to showcase a group trying to unify the nation, and as a way to tie in President Reagan plus all the ways that the Democrats feel his presidency wronged them. The majority of the speech goes on to list all the things that went wrong in the last presidency according to his opinion, however he
chose to end the speech on a higher note. Jackson repeats the phrase “our time has come” several times to leave the audience with a sense of unity and with a call to action to help change the world by hopefully selecting a candidate that could compete against Ronald Reagan.

From these two speeches given it is obvious to see that Pope Francis was the stronger speaker. The Pope spoke a message of hope and encouragement that brought all people together instead of isolating one group specifically as the good or the bad the way Jesse Jackson did.

Later on in 2015, Pope Francis also delivered an address to the United Nations on its seventieth anniversary, this meeting was the fifth time a pope had visited the UN, however it was the first time the Pope spoke at the annual session where all world members were in attendance (TIME).

“Reform and adaptation to the times is always necessary in the pursuit of the ultimate goal of granting all countries, without exception, a share in, and a genuine and equitable influence on, decision-making processes. The need for greater equity is especially true in the case of those bodies with effective executive capability...This will help limit every kind of abuse or usury, especially where developing countries are concerned,”

The Pope’s main point that he emphasized at the beginning of this speech was that as the incredible world leaders of the UN, it is their duty to strive for utopia(TIME). UN leaders have a great control over the world’s people, and during these extreme times of terrorism and destruction it is of the utmost importance that we seek equality, peace, and acceptance. The Pope believes that justice is one of the fundamental morals and goal of the United Nations but that power must be equalized and limited in such ways as laws and judicial systems along with basic freedoms. Next, the environment is brought up due to the beliefs that rights belong to man and not the environment, as you can not find one without the other in harmony. Pope Francis goes so far as to say that any harm man does to the world is equally harming humanity because every create that God created for our earth has an intrinsic value and man is no higher in value to the survival of God’s creation than any other life force. Man was given the earth to rule, however it is not truly ours to destroy but to use in efforts to glorify our Creator, this is a fundamental belief of monotheistic religions (TIME). Finally, the point is made that humanity must always strive for improvement while seeking justice, and the Pope believes the UN is a step in a proper direction for humanity to become one unit of solidarity.

In 1988, the sequel election to the previous speech, Jesse Jackson again addressed his fellow Democrats at the National Convention to select a presidential candidate. Carter begins by thanking his family and God for the support that led him to the event and for everyone being able to join together regardless of race to unite the nation under one party to support a man that may become president. Jackson is a civil liberties activist that thanks President Carter for his aid in restoring America and gives thanks to those whose blood was spilt in the name of freedom. He speaks of a problematic South and its prejudices towards racism and unjust treatment (americanrhetoric.com). His main focus of this address was to compel the next generations of Democrats to look towards leaders who strive for justice and equality. Jackson focuses on the obvious racism of the 1980s American public and demands reformations to create a better future for the youth to come.

Pope Francis again speaks more out of love and hope with a guiding hand rather than the more radicalized message of Jesse Jackson. Jackson is not as effective of a speaker due to the fact that he can only appeal to a very specific group of Americans rather than the millions of people who take the lessons of the Pope and use them in their daily faith.

Pope Francis and Jesse Jackson are well known speakers who have very strict views of the world. However, as speakers, Pope Francis is more effective at delivering a true and universal message that appeals to everyone’s ethos, pathos, and logos.