Building a New Norm

Welcome to my third action project for my Rhetoric class. The focus of this unit was "Challenge."  Throughout the unit, we were asked to challenge the status quo or the norm. The status quo could be found in a household, government, or society. We looked into different documents that explained or challenged the norm at certain times. Some of these being, The Doctrine of Discovery, King Ferdinand's letter to the Arawak, and The Iroquois Constitution. We also went to different non-profit organizations who use rhetoric to challenge the status quo on a daily basis. Some of these being 33rd Ward Working Families and the People's Assembly for the 48th Ward. For this action project, the scenario was to create a canvassing script targeted to change an issue in our neighborhood. The goal being to address a certain audience who is on one side of an issue, and to urge them to at least see the other side of the issue. Like my last action project, I'm choosing the issue of gentrification. In this script, my goal is to target an audience who might think gentrification is a good thing and get them to see the issues behind it. 

Canvassing Image, National Demographic

Here's my Script below: 

Overall, I enjoyed doing this action project because it allowed me to interact with people who have opinions I might not have or who might have different experiences or ideas. It also allowed me to look at non-profits in my community and see how they challenge the status quo in their own ways. It was  difficult for me to hit the word count because I sometimes found it difficult to express my ideas. If I were to do this project again, I might want to target a different issue in Bronzeville like waste, poverty, or racial discrimination. 

Sources:

• 311 service requests - vacant and abandoned buildings reported - map: City of chicago: Data Portal. Chicago. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://data.cityofchicago.org/Service-Requests/311-Service-Requests-Vacant-and-Abandoned-Building/d9re-tmpw

• A Blueprint for Bronzeville. Blueprint for Bronzeville. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://www.blueprintforbronzeville.com/issues/

• Melstrom, R. T., & Mohammadi, R. (2022, February 1). Residential mobility, brownfield remediation, and environmental gentrification in Chicago. Land Economics. Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://le.uwpress.org/content/98/1/62.short

• Modi, P. (2022, January 20). Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood gentrifies. The Real Deal Chicago. Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://therealdeal.com/chicago/2022/01/19/why-bronzevilles-gentrification-may-become-a-model-for-other-chicago-neighborhoods/