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Malcolm x and oppression
Malcolm x and oppression
Essay on racism in the 60s
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On April 3, 1964, at a meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, a gentleman by the name of Malcolm X, formally known as Malcolm Little, gave an emotional speech entitled “Ballot or Bullet.” During the year in which the speech was given, racism against blacks, segregation, riots, killing and boycotting were very prevalent. The year 1946 was also very significant because it was the first election in which blacks were allowed to vote. In his speech, Malcolm X expected to persuade African Americans to stop attacking one another and unite in the fight against the oppression and degradation of the white man. As Malcolm X began his speech, he started by greeting his moderator, the reverends, friends, family and his enemies. As soon as he walked out in his professional attire …show more content…
One major and important point that Malcolm X made in his speech was the importance of Blacks becoming politically educated. He believes that Blacks must become understand politics and politicians’ lies, truths and missions, in order to elect officers that will effectively represent black communities in the government. As a result of this understand, Malcolm X predicts that black communities will begin to flourish. Malcolm X also stresses the importance of investing in black owned businesses. He says that when black owned businesses are started and become successful that there would be an increase in jobs available for more blacks, therefore they won’t have to work for a white man, which despises them. In his speech he makes it known that one must come together to fight white oppression, and support black business and societies that promote Black Nationalism and uplifting. Malcolm X’s speech was very informative and structured very well. There was a clear start, middle and end of his speech. The end of the speech was indicated by the presence of repetition and parallelism. These two techniques were used to reiterate the points of his
In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. During his campaign he had promised to lead the country down the right path with the civil rights movement. This campaign promise had brought hope to many African-Americans throughout the nation. Ever since Lincoln, African-Americans have tended to side with the democrats and this election was no different. The Kennedy administration had noticed that the key to the presidency was partially the civil rights issue. While many citizens were on Kennedy’s side, he had his share of opposition. Malcolm X differed on the view of the President and observed that the civil rights movement wasn’t happening at the speed Kennedy had pledged. Malcolm X possessed other reasons for his dislike of John F. Kennedy and his brothers, especially Robert. The Kennedy government stood for racial liberalism and Malcolm X argued their true intentions for the civil rights movement weren’t in the best interest of the black population. This tension streamed both ways. John Kennedy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation felt that Malcolm X had become a threat to national security. James Baldwin has written essays that have included the repeated attacks on the white liberal and supports Malcolm in many of his theories and actions.
In his speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” Malcolm X’s tone is objective, yet motivating and optimistic, as he describes the theory of black nationalism, which he thinks all blacks must embrace in order to unite as a community under a single goal, to achieve equality. Through the use of factual evidence, schemes, and personal pronouns, Malcolm X builds on his ethos as he makes himself a more credible, trustworthy speaker about the dire situation of blacks. In the beginning of the speech, Malcolm X builds a personal profile of himself, as he mentions that he is a Muslim. However, after doing so, he disregards religion, claiming it does not matter. He states, “Whether we are Christians or Muslims or nationalists or agnostics, or atheists, we must first learn to forget our differences.” His authoritative and didactic tone here contributes to his ethos as it makes him sound credible.
On April 12, 1964, Malcolm X stepped in front of a crowd of two thousand in Detroit’s King Solomon Baptist Church. Ministers initially attempted to prevent Malcolm X from using the church to deliver the speech at the last minute, as they had already estimated the potential for controversy (“Say It Plain, Say It Loud”). Many historians deem the speech, titled “The Ballot or the Bullet,” Malcolm X’s greatest performance. Only a month after departing from the Nation of Islam and joining the mainstream Civil Rights Movement, Malcolm X already recognized the vital flaw in the movement: the African American expectation of help from the white population. “The Ballot or the Bullet” aimed to point out that flaw and unite all African Americans through
Malcolm X’s speech “The Bullet or the Ballot” relates to me because I am young African American male and in the 2008 election there is a African American male candidate who to me has a lot of good values and standards I believe he has what it takes to become the next president of the Unite States. I value you the fact that I can vote I feel that now that I ...
Malcolm X: His very name is a stab to the beliefs of the white supremacists of his time"X" symbolizing "the rejection of slave-names' and the absence of an inherited African name to take its place." Similarly, in his speech "The Ballot or the Bullet", Malcolm X denounces the actions of the white population, without any attempts to appeal to them; his approach to the civil rights issue is in complete opposition to the tactics of other civil rights leaders of his time, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Rather than trying to integrate the black community into the white, he focuses on the complete separation of them: he doesn't want the blacks to integrate into the white hotels, he wants blacks to own the hotels. He believed that the black population had to break the psychological, cultural, economic, and political dependency on their oppressors. By using tactical phrasing of his sentences that connects to his audience emotionally, Malcolm X attacks the tendency of African-Americans to identify with White America, and insists they identify instead with Africans, their ancestors; thus, he promotes his purpose: to instill a feeling of self-respect and self-help in his fellow African-Americans, which in turn is the stepping stone to the liberation of the Black people.
X highlights the prominence of balloting as a explanation to end discrimination against Blacks. Addressing the poor voting decisions and the abjuration of authentic voting rights to Blacks. Religion must not come in the way of justice and need between oneself and God. Malcom X debates these explanations from a Black Nationalist outlook. Black Nationalism, also known as black separatism, is a political and social undertaking which pursues to obtain economic power and form a sense of community among Blacks. Black Nationalism is anti-assimilation, implicating that it is not their goal to completely integrate into white American society. Blacks must own their own businesses and learn to control their own economic prosperity, as well as supporting additional black establishments in order to shape and preserve wealth within there own community. African Americans have not furthered from America’s democracy, instead they have been victimized by American hypocrisy. He unveils that Blacks have not experienced “the American Dream—they’ve faced an American nightmare” (Malcolm X). The speech clarifies the authority of Black people balloting as a unified group. Because government is a contract with the people and the purpose of government is to secure everyone’s individual rights, people have the right to rebel if the government violates the contract. The Ballot or the Bullet speech by Malcolm X was to stimulate his hearing to make action, either by legislation, the ballot, or violence which is the bullet. Malcolm X choice of words is deliberate in order to entice his audience to be active. Malcolm’s tone creates a sense of great importance and the need to get things done in black
Speeches are a method of persuading people to do something. For Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, their speeches were to bring equality for the people of color. However, their approaches are different. Consequently, the effects may be different. An example of their contrasting differences is a speech from each, King’s “I Have a Dream” and X’s “The Black Revolution”. Their speeches used pathos, a central metaphor, and a warning, but was presented differently.
...ack Nationalism to coexistence. He pointed out how America can live without racial problems that it had since slavery. This was a road trip for Malcolm X from the Nation of Islam which used the name of Islam to promote its own social and political agenda to that of true Islam, which allows Malcolm X to see an alternative approach towards his objectives.. George Breitman in his book “The Last Year of Malcolm X” states “…if they adopt Malcolm’s strategy, accept his legacy and develop it n accord with the logic of the direction in which he was moving during his last year, then all of America will be transformed…” Reading the Ballot or the Bullet after knowing this will make one think beyond the actual words that are mentioned in the speech. Today, because of his boldness, Malcolm X is viewed by many, alongside Martin Luther King Jr., as a great civil rights leader.
“The Ballot or the Bullet” is a speech given by Malcolm X in 1964. It’s speculated that he may have had inspiration from an article written over a hundred years earlier, in 1959, by Frederick Douglass titled, “The Ballot or the Bullet.” In this article, Douglass talks about how “the ballot is needed” in order to abolish slavery and if nothing is done to get this going, “then the bullet” would be used. The theme of the ballot or the bullet found in Black Radicalism is an echo of a theory in American politics because this was the main rationale used in American anti-colonial liberation war from England. 1964 was a crucial presidential election period, and there were high expectations in the black community after the historic March on Washington
Malcolm X and James Baldwin were two men that played a large role in defining a people and a cause during the 1950s and 1960s. Both of these men were dynamic African-Americans who lived primarily to help their people, who were terribly persecuted in the United States for many years. The interesting thing about these two men is that they strove towards the same goal—to unify African-Americans and give them strength and confidence—but they accomplished this goal in very different ways. Malcolm X, a leader in the Nation of Islam movement, believed that African-Americans needed to acquire strength and confidence so that they could separate from the White man and live together in peace, harmony, and production. On the other hand, James Baldwin, renowned writer, believed it necessary for African-Americans to have strength and confidence so that they might coexist on the same level as whites and accomplish what whites were accomplishing. The methodology and teachings of James Baldwin and Malcolm X differed greatly, but their general belief, that African-Americans were just as good as everybody else prevailed over all else, and made these men two of the very important faces of a generation.
X repeats many times the definition of what Black Nationalism is. Malcolm X define Black Nationalism as the need for the Blacks to have the power of their own communities. By giving the definition more than once, X gives different examples of how Blacks can incorporate it into their lives. With this the audience is able to understand why Black Nationalism is needed in the Black community. The repetition of “human rights” is very important for X to be able to express what his intentions are with Black Nationalism. For the audience hearing human Rights over and over again makes them what to adopt Black Nationalism. Black Nationalism at this point is seen as a synonym to human rights. Malcolm X makes his point of why the the African Americans need to adopt the Black Nationalism lifestyle. The repetition X uses helps him achieve his point of the need of Black Nationalism in order to be able to obtain racial
"The Ballot or the Bullet," April 3, 1964 by Malcolm X is a motivational speech influencing the colored community to fight the control of "the white man". Malcolm X refers to the noncolored people as "white man" to stress the division between the black and white people, showing that they're in the act of political oppression and social degradation. "I think you'll have to agree that we're going to be forced either to use the ballot or the bullet," stating the fact that there's no either or. Throughout the speech, he tried to convince the African-Americans to stand up for their rights and their right to vote. During the speech, Malcolm X advocated that the audience need to stand together and find new allies considering the community needs a new interpretation on the civil-rights movement.
The 1960’s civil rights movement was a critical period in American history. One of the most prominent figures of this era was Malcolm X. His main goal was for African Americans to secure access to employment and to get protection in the legal system. His most famous speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” clearly shows his stance on civil rights. Malcolm X’s speech “Ballot or the Bullet”, tried to motivate his audience to get involved in civil right movement, either by legislation, the ballot, or by means of violence, the bullet. He points out that if the political system (the ballot) won’t give African Americans their due, the civil rebellion (the bullet) will. He also convinced his audience that doing nothing was not an option. Malcolm X in
In history we know that no two men are alike but, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were phenomenal people and leaders. Both had visualized some type of change in the future, yet were not literally able to see it. Both Dr. King and Malcolm X set out to bring a sense of confidence to blacks all over the United States. Their main purpose was to help instill black’s power and strength so that they could overcome racial disparity and prejudice that surrounded them, but both of them had very unique and distinct different ways of promoting their message. Martin was more geared and focused on equality and wellness of the world as a whole, a Malcolm X’s personal interpretation of the world was very well blinded by anger, bitterness, and the desire to get revenge at the expense of the world that he thought treated him unfairly.
Assuredly, the purpose of this speech was to enlighten the minds of many Black Americans and engaged them in the fight for the civil rights. They now understand the situation at hand based on the vivid details expressed by X in his speech. As a result of X speaking up for the nation of blacks, he instilled the idea that African Americans should vote and become more politically active, by this motivation, he has established a new philosophy in the minds of the Black Americans, that being to seek equality.