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Communicating for Change in Racial Conflict Discussion
In 2015, Confederate statues were being taken down throughout the Southern United
States [ CITATION Hei22 \l 1033 ]. Because of the tensions in the South and in New Orleans
around this time, there was rioting during the process [ CITATION Hei22 \l 1033 ]. The Mayor
of New Orleans, Mitchell Landrieu spoke to the city in the hopes of preventing this violence
[ CITATION Hei22 \l 1033 ]. John Kotter proposed an eight-step model for successful change,
with the communication step further broken down into seven-steps [ CITATION Hei22 \l 1033 ].
Landrieu’s speech was inspired and serves as a fine example of Kotter’s step to communicate his
vision of the future (AlManei et al., 2018). Kotter’s steps for communication are, simplicity,
metaphor, analogy, and example, multiple forums, repetition, leadership by example, explanation
of inconsistencies, and give-and-take [ CITATION Hei22 \l 1033 ].
Simplicity
Being too vague can cause a message to be lost, however, too specific a message can
alienate diverse groups (Shrivastava et al., 2022). Simplicity, or that the message be concise, was
present in Landrieu’s speech. He made the point that the statues are not a sign of patriotism, but
of slavery and they need to be removed [ CITATION Hei22 \l 1033 ]. Landrieu further expanded
on this, while still conveying the subject matter in a straightforward method, by noting that the
statues weren’t erected until years after the Civil War was over [ CITATION Hei22 \l 1033 ].
Metaphor, Analogy, and Example
Kotter noted that getting people on board with a goal is better done by appealing to
people’s feelings, as opposed to their higher thinking [ CITATION Cau19 \l 1033 ]. Landrieu’s
speech contains metaphors which paint a picture and tell a story [ CITATION Hei22 \l 1033 ]. He
speaks often of “roots” and uses words with a more negative connotation (e.g., misery,
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malfeasance, terror) when discussing Confederacy and the monuments and words with a more
positive connotation (e.g., healing, radiate beauty, and grace) when explaining his vision
[ CITATION Hei22 \l 1033 ]. Landrieu’s speech also uses analogy to weave the tale, by
comparing the stone of the statues to the stone slavery auction block and comparing the statues to
burning crosses [ CITATION Hei22 \l 1033 ]. Alliteration is also a tool used in this
communication such as “discord with division” (Heinz, 2021, p. 493). Landrieu’s speech also
