Blog Post #6: “Rhetoric Triangle in Teen Vogue”

The Teen Vogue article What It’s Like to be Black at a Predominantly White School is designed to empower young adults as they enter the first steps in formulating their future in that they have the power to dictate the environment in which they surround themselves around. The article is written by Stephanie Tate who is a young college student at North Carolina State University. She describes her experience as a black individual placed in predominantly white institutions. She’s originally from Brooklyn, New York and moved to North Carolina when she was eleven years old. In moving to North Carolina, her school environment drastically changed and she was placed in a predominantly white, Christian, private high school. As she spent four years in this type of environment where she felt like an outcast, her goal in picking a college to attend was for it to be a predominantly black environment. However, she ended up falling in love with NCSU and even though it was predominantly white, decided to go there anyway. She is now a very well-rounded individual who attends many of the school’s educational, social, and cultural events. She’s also involved in activism for racial equality and is the editor in chief for the school’s African American newspaper. In her experience at her university, she wrote this article with the purpose of painting a realistic picture of what’s in store for fellow young black individuals just like her. In the article, she presents to her audience what they should be prepared for and expect in going to a predominantly white college when they’re people of color. However, she does this while also relieving them in terms of sharing what they don’t need to worry about such as telling them that “for every time [she’s] been the only black student in class, [she’s] found 20 more black students willing to study with her in the library.” (Tate) She also offers them advice for how to deal with the hardships they might face if they go down a similar path in which she did. She tells her readers that their “university experience is what [they] make of it.” (Tate) This is an empowering message that she has and is what encapsulates the purpose of her article; that while they can slowly work towards eliminating racism, since they can’t directly, quickly control that – they still have the power to eliminate it from their own lives in terms of what they make their surroundings consume of. This message is important to communicate towards young teenagers, as they will soon be creating new lives for themselves. This is why the intended audience for this article is most likely high school students that are beginning to decide where they’re gearing their life towards after graduating. As this is an article in a teen magazine and has this tone of guidance regarding topics like deciding where to go to college and social relations, it’s pretty clear that the intended audience is teenagers about to take this next step in their life. As the context of the article surrounds around the topic of racism towards African Americans, the underlying message goes beyond that sub-topic. To elaborate, even though the article touches on racism, the overall message to young people is that they get to dictate their surroundings and mold their own positive environments for themselves. This is a wide-scale message that can apply to anyone whose about to make a new life for themselves. Also, although the article is indirectly doing this, I don’t believe the main focus of the article is to combat racism nor is it geared towards racist individuals for enlightenment. I see the article being intended towards people who are the victims of any discriminatory act, enlightening them on what they can do to eliminate acts of hate in their own life. Tate is discussing her own experiences that have taught her “to face conflict with poise and professionalism.” (Tate) She doesn’t spend as much time in her article dwelling on the unfortunate racist acts that have happened to her but, instead she sheds light on what she did to remain positive and not let it affect her too deeply. This is why I find the genre of the article to be an informative, empowering, and hopeful piece. This is because it doesn’t focus completely on the negatives or, even trying to change those negatives that aren’t directly in their control but, focuses what is in the victims’ control. She focuses on the power that young people have to dictate their futures. This is why the medium that it’s presented in works so well for its context. As it’s an article in Teen Vogue that’s clearly directed towards teenagers, this is a really efficient outlet to get her message across to the appropriate audience. The only disadvantage I can find within this medium is hidden within its greatest advantage – that it will mostly only been seen by teenagers. While this is a good thing, it’s typically not as obtainable to older individuals who have a lot of influence on a young person throughout their early life such as teachers or parents who can influence this important notion in them throughout their upbringing. This type of message can also work well in an adult magazine or a parenting/ teaching article as well. However, the author, purpose, intended audience, genre and, medium all function well together in delivering Tate’s important message. All of these aspects of rhetoric are present in Tate’s formulation of her effective article.