Barack Obama's Remarks on Trayvon Martin

This study guide will help you analyze President Barack Obama's remarks on Trayvon Martin. We will show you examples of elements in the text that will be relevant for your analysis. In these notes, we will focus on main topics, speaker, audience, language, modes of persuasion, circumstances and intention.

Presentation of the speech

Title: “Remarks by the President on Trayvon Martin”
Speaker: Barack Obama
Where: The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House
When: July 19th, 2013. Six day after the man who shot Trayvon Martin was acquitted of murder.

Barack Obama (b. 1961) is an American politician who was the 44^th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He was the first African-American to hold the office of President of the United States, and during his presidency he focused on issues such as affordable healthcare, gun control, and education.

You can watch the speech here.

Excerpt

Below, you can read an excerpt from our study guide:

Personal stories and anecdotes

Note that Obama also includes personal stories in his speech, such as his discussions with his wife Michelle or listening to his daughters communicate with their friends: “But when I talk to Malia and Sasha, and I listen to their friends and I see them interact, they’re better than we are -- they’re better than we were -- on these issues.”

Along with references to Obama’s own experiences of being judged based on the color of his skin, these personal stories give a more empathetic tone to the speech and help the audience see that Obama is personally involved in the Trayvon Martin case.