What is a part of speech that shows something is being done

Which of the following best describes how the recall refenderum and initiative provisions give power to voters

She took up a scalpel and slit the monkey's abdomen, making a slow and gentle cut, keeping the blade well away from her gloved fingers. the spleen was puffed up and tough, leathery, like a globe of smoked salami. she did not see any bloody lesions inside this monkey. she had expected that the monkey's interior would be a lake of blood, but no, this monkey looked all right, it had not bled into itself. if the animal had died of ebola, this was not a clear case. she opened up the intestine. there was no blood inside it. the gut looked okay. then she examined the stomach. there she found a ring of bleeding spots at the junction between the stomach and the small intestine. this could be a sign of ebola, but it was not a clear sign. it could also be a sign of simian fever, not ebola. therefore, she could not confirm the presence of ebola virus in this animal based on a visual inspection of the internal organs during necropsy.

In paragraph 5, president obama remarks: “you know, when trayvon martin was first shot i said that this could have been my son. another way of saying that is trayvon martin could have been me 35 years ago.” how does president obama use rhetoric in this quote to contribute to the overall meaning of his speech?