River by Leon Bridges- Logos

In addition to strong appeals to pathos and ethos, Leon Bridges also utilized logos as a rhetorical tool to showcase that the black men and women throughout this country face a unique struggle with police brutality but through all the injustice, there is a light shining at the end of the tunnel. Bridges wrote this song to reflect on the Baltimore uprising. Bridges provides detail to educate us on the tragedy of the protests by showing scenes of a man covered in blood walking on an empty street, a child sitting alone looking outside of the window and people banging police cars with cones in the TV in the room. He also presents logos through reason of why we should believe hope trumps injustice. One example of this is when he sings the lyrics “In my darkness I remember Momma’s words reoccur to me, “Surrender to the good Lord and he’ll wipe your state clean.” He shares this personal anecdote to provide a rationale that even after hard times, such as the way police handled Baltimore, God will always be there to help mend your sorrows. Another example of how he use sensible examples to show that hope exists is when towards the end of the video all of the African Americans come together in the rain and dance and play music. He is trying to explain that if we all come together in times like this and keep our spirits alive than the good will surpass evil. Leon Bridges strategically weaves in pathos into his logos by showing scenes of both the brutality and the sense of optimism at the end, and providing lyrics of examples to easily make the audience of the speech more hopeful towards the situation by lifting their sorrows.

-Nidhi Kalaria