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MY LIFE

MY LIFE “The Reaction of Colin Powell’s Speech at Howard University” General Colin Powell did the Commencement speech at Howard University on May 25, 1994. He did the speech after a cloud of controversy had happen at the university. A racist Black Muslim made a speech at Howard University. Howard policy is that anybody can express his or her freedom of speech on there campus. As you can figure out, the white community did not think of that very well. Connie Chung did a report saying that Howard University was a racist institution. All of this pressure was coming down at once. Howard said that they did not agree with the Black Muslims beliefs but will let them speak and express their opinions. Colin Powell is a man of high power. In the Vietnam War, he was an advisor to all of the top generals there. He was also an advisor to the Secretary of Defense. The final position he held was that of the Joint Chief-and-Staff. Colin Powell was the only black man in U.S. history to hold down such a high position. Colin Powell speech was what you call a classic. Basically, he came from nowhere to rescue the honor of Howard University. He speech began with him calling the Black Muslim speaker ignorant. I think that opening statement set the tone of the whole speech. He let people know from the start that he wasn’t about to put Howard into anymore trouble. The other part of the speech of the speech was telling the Howard graduates to go out in the word and get good jobs. This part of the speech was on the ordinary note. All people will go through this part of the speech. In my speech, I had that informational part also. You need to inform people on what is going on. If you don’t have the informational part of the speech then you need the good luck part of the speech. The good luck part of the speech is telling the people in the audience how you wish them good luck in anything they do in the future. Colin Powell had some funny parts in his speech to keep the audience awoke. He made jokes on mostly everything he said. A joke was made about every five minutes. The joke he made was when he said that he wouldn’t go to long. All of the graduates of Howard just laughed. I think jokes are an essential part of your speech. If you don’t have jokes than your speech will always be on the boring side. I think a joke should be made about two to three minutes of every speech that you make to the public. President Clinton’s State of the Union even have jokes in it. I hate it when a public speaker make a speech that last about an hour an never have a single joke. I not saying to try to be a funnyman but just let some semi-funny jokes come at your mouth. Colin Powell didn’t have any hilarious jokes but it was enough to grab the audience attention. I remember at my high school graduation when the valor victorian made her speech. I t was the most boring speech in George Washington High School history. She didn’t even mention a word about the people who was killed. That speech made me so sick to my stomach. Colin Powell on the other hand made points about the situation that Howard University was going through. He even made a joke about where was Connie Chung (making reference on the news anchor getting fired for making false reports about Howard University). Distractions are a thing that happens in all speeches. Colin Powell had distractions in his speech. A squirrel jump into some woman pocketbook and the whole crowd just erupted as if somebody had been shot. Colin Powell handles this situation by waiting for the crowd to settle down. The crowd to too long to settle down so Colin Powell made a joke. This situation was handled so perfectly by Colin Powell. He didn’t want to be rude so he made a joke towards the people so that they would know that he was ready to resume his speech. Distractions are something a speaker must assume will happen everytime they get to that stage. I know that in my speech I never that a distraction would happen in my speech. Thank god, it didn’t because I was probably the most unprepared student in the class for a distraction. I was more nervous for my speech than anything. A distraction would have destroyed my whole speech. Colin Powell showed me how to control a distraction. That is by making a joke or let the situation pass you bye. The conclusion is one of the most important parts of the speech. You shouldn’t say that’s all, its over, and I’m finish because it show a sloppy side to yourself. Colin Powell conclusion was perfect because he concluded with wishing the Howard graduation class the best of luck in the future. That is a classic way to end a speech. Colin Powell really showed how much of an intelligent person he really was. This man went to a trouble university a brought them back into the light of the white media. Instead of hatred, he preached loved and that is why he is one of the great African-Americans in the history of the world. Bibliography:

Word Count: 909