Linguistic features

Allusion

In his article “Why Do We Hate Immigrants?”, Kevin Powell uses the phrase “the strange-fruit hangings of our bodies” (l. 17). This is an allusion to the poem “Strange Fruit” by Abel Meeropol which was then put to music and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The poem is about the lynching of African Americans, which was a widespread type of murder in the years following the civil war. In the poem, the lynchings are described through a metaphor, using the image of strange fruit hanging from the trees.

The article also makes an allusion to President Trump’s proposed expansion of the Mexico-US border wall: “No wall and no detention center can ever stop the massive flow of human beings as they seek out what they need and want for themselves and for their children…” (ll. 63-64). The proposed wall was a key element of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, so by alluding to it, Powell makes it more clear that his text is intended as a dir...