Rhetoric of Crisis and Complex Appeals to Time in Lynch Law

In “Lynch Law” by Ida B. Wells-Barnett, the issue of the continued practice of lynching in the United States is addressed. Rhetoric of crisis, defined by Killingsworth as an appeal to the present time (Killingsworth 42), is used when Wells-Barnett describes how, despite the passage of time and America’s supposed title of “land of the free and home of the brave” (Wells-Barnett 3), many people are still using an “unwritten law” as justification to kill people with lynch mobs mobs, claiming it to be justice, even though the accused gets no right to a fair trial, and often is not even at fault. Wells-Barnett also uses complex appeals to time, defined by Killingsworth as when time is portrayed with value and a need for change is emphasized (Killingsworth 39). The reader is urged to recognize that much time has passed, and that America should have long since stopped the practice of lynching. Wells-Barnett provides statistical evidence indicating the amount of people who are killed unjustifiably, including children (Wells-Barnett 2-3). These appeals to time are used to urge the reader to take action and to recognize that this practice needs to end, and that it has been ignored for far too long.