Since the dawn of time, there has always existed the concept of good vs evil. Normally, this concept is used to explain two forces battling against each other in order to influence people’s actions. However, these concepts also exist on a realistic level; although the realistic form is based on race rather than morals. Like a recessive gene, black people were suppressed by the dominant gene, white people, in the 1950’s. With the white race oppressing the black race being a colossal dilemma, few people chose to solve it. Among them were Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X. While King wanted to solve the problem with peace, Malcolm knew the only way to solve the dispute was fighting back. Malcolm X was born in 1925 in Omaha Nebraska, and was one …show more content…
The concept Malcolm thought of was if there was a society of apples, and a part of the society happened to be rotten, the best course of action was to separate that group from the bunch. This concept was, what he believed, required in order to obtain equality. For while the black apples were the healthy ones, the white ones were rotten. With this idea in mind, Malcolm said, “Will these awakened black masses demand integration into the white society that enslaved them?” (DR), and when he said it; he displayed two key factors. First, the black masses have awoken, meaning they were sound asleep to the lullaby of the thought of integration and how amazing it would be; and now they’ve awaken to see that separation was better choice for them to obtain equality. Second, he showed actions of the “white society” they reside in. He accomplished this by asking if they wanted to live free where they people who enslaved them live, and if they would shake hands with the people who locked up their hands. To further illustrate the point, he asked “Will the exploited and oppressed black masses seek integration with their white exploiters and white oppressors?” (DR). This was a rhetorical question of course, and like a nail, he used it to continually hammers the point into the minds of the people, that they cannot integrate with those who have oppressed them. To …show more content…
The idea of loving the person who stood for eradicating the entire African race and to make sure he was always at the bottom was, to Malcolm, comparable to doing nothing. What could love do that self-defense couldn’t? Nothing! The mere concept that love was greater than self-defense was absurd. Because it was incredibility absurd Malcolm continually denounced the idea. He accomplished this by suggesting that “I don 't think that we should run around trying to love somebody who doesn 't love us.” () Along with this statement came two important factors. The First infatuation doesn’t help knock down the wall which blocks the laws from justice in America, it only made it extremely harder to knock it down because it gave people the option to cop-out. Second, the idea of Martin Luther King was closer to foolishness and insanity, than actually substance to help the injustice. When Martin said to overcome the injustice with love and peace, it crept under Malcolm’s skin and continually bothered him, in which he thought, “’Well, let 's overcome them with our capacity to love." What kind of phrase is that?” () Malcolm figured that loving the enemy rather than fighting against the enemy was ridiculous. Not only did Malcolm hate the idea, he felt that when others followed
The only exception Locke provides to the desired goal of equality among all humans is if “God·, the lord and master of them all, were to declare clearly and explicitly his wish that some one person be raised above the others and given an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty” (Locke 77). However, God certainly never said people who has ancestry from Africa were inferior to those in Europe, so all that remains is one of the view “rights” Locke says is both inarguable and easy to articulate: “the right that an injured party has to get reparation” (79). Black Americans undoubtedly qualify as an “injured party”, and as a result Locke and Malcolm X once more share reasoning for taking action. Even though Malcolm X was a devout Muslim, he did not see Islam as a necessary part of being a black nationalist. He implores listeners to keep their own religion “between you and your God. Because if it hasn’t done anything more for you than it has, you need to forget it anyway”, and instead to derive the need to resist from whatever theological source one ascribes to (X 75). By viewing existence as an implicit contract with a higher power to prosper whenever possible, Malcolm X forms an argument for rising up against oppression that structurally could
Of the people whose names are mentioned in history, some men like Thomas Edison are praised for their genius minds, while others such as Adolf Hitler are criticized for leaving a depressing legacy behind. While it is relative easy to notice the type of legacies these two men left, legacies of other men are often vague and they seem to be imbedded in gray shadows. This is how many people view the life of Malcolm X. Malcolm X during his lifetime had influenced many African Americans to step up for their rights against the injustices by the American government. One on hand, he has been criticized for his hard stances that resemble extremism, while on the other hand he has been praised him for his effort in raising the status for African Americans. The extremes in viewing his life from the modern day perspective have often come from reading his climatic speech The Ballot or the Bullet that he gave in many cities across America in 1964. When he was with the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X favored Blacks to be separated from the Whites, and during this time he strongly opposed White Supremacy. This also seems quite prevalent in his speech The Ballot or the Bullet. However, one events during the last year of his life reveal that he wanted the Blacks and the Whites to coexist as peaceful Americans.
In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” book, Malcolm X suffers to courageously advocate for the rights of blacks. He was a human rights activist. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. Malcolm focuses on how racism against blacks dehumanizes them. The Caucasoid race around Malcolm typically read him as one thing but human, and Malcolm’s need to correct this perception drives his fight for racial equality. He experiences delicate racism in his youth from his family and faculty, United Nations agency treat him otherwise from others as a result of him being black. Although his foster folks and a few of the people he encounters in class square are nice to him, Malcolm thinks these folks treat him nicely so as to point out however unprejudiced they are. He feels that they 're mistreatment of him as a result that he 's completely different, as if he were a “pink poodle.” At the start Malcolm successively dehumanizes the Caucasoid race as revenge for his own subjugation. In Boston, he displays his white girlfriend Sophia as a
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were both African American civil rights leaders wanting to bring freedom to black people during the 1960s. Even though both leaders wanted to liberate black people; their philosophies were drastically different. Malcolm X was wanted racial separation, while Martin Luther King wanted to both races to coexist. Religion is also a major part of this situation because most African Americans including MLK in America were Christian while Malcolm X’s goal was to turn all people who follow his path to convert into Muslims. Martin Luther King’s philosophy would’ve made more sense to 1960s America because most people who wanted freedom in society would rather consider coexisting than more racial
Harper, Frederick D. “The Influence of Malcolm X on Black Militancy.” Journal of Black Studies 1 (June 1971): 387-402.
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.
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.
African Americans are fortunate to have leaders who fought for a difference in Black America. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X are two powerful men in particular who brought hope to blacks in the United States. Both preached the same message about Blacks having power and strength in the midst of all the hatred that surrounded them. Even though they shared the same dream of equality for their people, the tactics they implied to make these dreams a reality were very different. The background, environment and philosophy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were largely responsible for the distinctly varying responses to American racism.
Even if Africans Americans do something wrong Malcolm beliefs that it 's not entirely their fault. The white people were to blame because they were still treating them like slaves in a sense. "...told me to be very careful, because muggings, knifings, and robberies went on every night among Negros...just a few block from the White House." (pg 75 chpt. 5). This is a example of how systemic oppression plays a major role in this book. Malcolm sees how even children half naked are in the streets begging for money and living in shacks when the White House is just a few block
Malcolm X is an important figure in human history because he was a human rights activist and fought for equality among people. He was a proficient public speaker who spoke for minorities, mostly African Americans. By reading Malcolm X’s story, I visualize on how a man suffered from the effects of prejudice and his whole disposition was formed from it. I see how a very angry man stayed angry at the "white devils" f...
Until the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his life’s work was dedicated to the nonviolent actions of blacks to gain the freedoms they were promised in the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. He believed that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King, 1963). These injustices had become so burdensome to blacks that they were “plunged into an abyss of despair” (King, 1963). The nonviolent actions of the sit-ins, boycotts, and marches were so the “individual could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths…to help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism” and ultimately lead to “inevitably opening the door to negotiation” (King, 1963). Not only was King’s approach effective with the older black generation, it was also successful with white people. They did not feel threatened when approached by King. White people gained a sense of empathy towards the plight of black freedom as King’s promise of nonviolence did not threaten their livelihood. Malcolm X viewed the world similarly to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., however; his beliefs to changing the status quo were slightly different from his political counterpart. Malcolm X realized that “anger could blind human vision” (X, 1965). In realizing this, X knew that in order to achieve racial freedom blacks had to “forget hypocritical politics and propaganda” (X, 1965). While Malcolm X was more so an advocate for violent forces against white people than King, X merely used force when it became necessary for defense. According to X, “I don’t go for non-violence if it also means a delayed solution. I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to American black man’s problem” (X, 1965). However, this le...
This paper will discuss the different stages of thought processes the former Nation of Islam minister, Malcolm X went through during his lifetime in terms of how he viewed white people, but more specifically “the white man” in America. The reason the focus is on White Americans is because these were the people outside of the Nation of Islam that shaped his life good or bad and put him on the path where he eventually transformed from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X who was one of the most polarizing and controversial figures during his lifetime and even nearly 50 years after his death the name Malcolm X causes certain people to shudder. Malcolm X became a well-known figure during the 50’s and 60’s during the civil rights movement which involved figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. This was a pivotal era in American history because for the first time that there was major push towards full rights for African Americans. When Malcolm X came on the scene he put fear into White people because they weren’t used to hearing the truth about race relations in America and many of them felt that things were just fine because they themselves were living life high on the hog while at the same time exploiting Blacks. Because this type of talk from a black person was new to them they misinterpreted his views as “hate speech” and accused him of trying to incite violence when he was simply trying wake his people up to properly deal with what was happening to them.
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.
There was no justice and human dignity between blacks and whites because blacks became victim of brutality by those who are depriving them of their rights to do whatever necessary to protect themselves. An example Malcolm stated when the police were putting water hoses on blacks and throwing tear gas at them and they met a hail of stones, a hail of rocks, a hail of bricks in Cleveland. Black American realized that the only way for them to gain their respect and freedom was to fight back and Malcolm gave an example how George Washington fought for independence violently. Malcolm realized the need to fight for all blacks over the world since if one black gets treated anyhow and nothing is done, another black in another country or place would face the same fate and get treated anyhow without any consequences hence freedom must be attain violently and he did not care if it would involve shedding of blood. Malcolm stated, “What happens to a black man in America today happens to the black man in Africa. What happens to a black man in America and Africa happens to the black man in Asia and to the man down in Latin America”. Over all, about twenty two million African Americans were ready to fight for
Hello folks, I am here to tell you why Malcolm X should be leader of the Civil Rights. Negroes have been segregated from good quality life and buses, so leaders arose to organize a movement called the Civil Rights movement, these leaders were Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X should be leader. According to his speech, “the Ballot or the Bullet”, he talks about the ways that the Negro is treated, the oppression, and what he would do to end oppression. Malcolm X should be leader of the Civil Rights leader because he knows and recognizes that all people or minorities have suffered at the hands of a common enemy, he also wants the oppressed to stand tall and defend themselves, lastly Martin Luther King shouldn’t be leader because he