Forms of appeal

Ethos and pathos are the dominant forms of appeal in Kevin Powell’s article “Why Do We Hate Immigrants?”.

Ethos 

Powell mainly builds ethos by using his African-American background to speak for contemporary immigrants. Powell begins his article by claiming that he is not an immigrant (l. 1) because his ancestors did not arrive in America willingly but were taken there forcibly. He offers a lengthy account of the injustices suffered by black people since their arrival in America. 

In his account, Powell mainly focuses on the violence and ill-treatment suffered by African Americans: “We have known starvation and premature deaths. We have known families being torn asunder and children left parentless. We have known torture and abuse and trauma handed from generation to generation (…) We have known forced movement…” (ll. 11-14). This he...