Who would think that a petty criminal would become one of the greatest leaders of civil rights movement of all times? A man named Malcolm X after spent six years in jail came to help black Americans fight for their civil right at the time of the oppression caused by segregation, injustice, and the inequalities. I say, today Malcolm X is recognized national by his speech “The Ballot or the Bullet,” and he is celebrated on Black History Month, even though in the eyes of the white man, his speech was radical. Malcolm X speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” was a great speech because he connected well to his audience by showing anger, pain, injustice, fear and discrimination. Malcolm X speech “The "Ballot or the Bullet” speech, was delivered in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 3, 1964(McLeod). It was a year for election. In his speech, he started by saying, “The Ballot or the Bullet explain itself” (Malcolm). By saying that, Malcolm was preparing people for action. Malcolm was encouraging the African Americans to stand up for themselves to fight for the right to vote. He claimed if things did not work out with the vote to have equality in the govern; the only way is taking matters into their own hands. Even though some people believe that taking matter in their own hand is the solution, in reality, it can cause more harm than good in some cases. I say that because we all have seen in some countries of Africa when the tribes fighting each other. Malcolm emphasized on separation that the African American should stick together independent of their religion. He suggest doing that by “the philosophy of black nationalism.” He argued, “The political philosophy of black nationalism only means to control the politics and the politicians in his own commu... ... middle of paper ... ...me dialects when he speaks, for example, some sentences, like “I be setting” in his speech. Malcolm X speech “The Ballot or the Bullet,” one could feel anger, pain and injustice for the black people due to injustice and inequalities they had experience from America. Through his essay changed occurred, and more people experience equality and justice was long overdue. Works Cited X, Malcolm American Radio Works, . N.p.. Web. 9 Feb 2014. . Brown, Frank the Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 73, No. 3, Special Issue: Brown v. Board of Education at 50 (summer, 2004), pp. 182-190. McLeod M. The Speeches of Malcolm X. Masterplots II: African American Literature, Revised Edition [serial online]. December 2008;1-4. Available from: Literary Reference Center, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 31, 2014.
Understandably, Malcolm X was not influenced by white philosophers and thinkers, drawing much of his advocacy from fellow black nationalists. However, certain ideas he espoused have inherent overlap with figures he did not necessarily craft his beliefs from. John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government set an ideological precedent that many still ascribe to today, and even though Malcolm X did not describe himself as a libertarian that does not preclude him from sharing similar values with Locke. While Malcolm X never directly alluded to the works of John Locke, he aligns with Locke on a myriad of issues relating to natural rights and government, and his speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” illuminates a justification of black resistance found
...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.
Rhetorical Analysis of Artifacts: The Ballot or the Bullet? Speech Given by Malcolm X I. Introduction: Though almost half a century has passed, the Civil War. The Rights Movement remains one freshly imprinted in not only the history. books of US schools, but also in the minds of countless Americans.
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.
Patterson, James. “Brown v Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy (Pivotal Moments in American History).” Oxford University Press., 2001.
The themes in the speech were having to do with the violence in revolutions, and how it was an inevitable part of them. There were many race riots in the 1900’s that were very violent, and accounted for many deaths of both African American and white people. But when looking at percentage the deaths of the African Americans heavily outweigh the deaths of others. Not only did race riots cause the murder and injure many people involved, but were the cause of destruction to many buildings in the area.The violence and destruction that the riots caused made people a little apprehensive to act out in fear of what they saw from previous riots, causing many people to sit in the background. Malcolm’s main theme and goal of the speech is to encourage more people to start taking whatever means necessary to fight for their right, and the rights of others. Riots were something that caught the attention With this new fire to fight for what was right Malcolm was hoping to achieve a real
The Negro revolution is a stagnant fight; the black revolution is a fight with one decisive winner. In this talk of revolution he also pointed out the hypocrisy of the American people on the subject of violence. How many black people will to go war for a country that hates them and do not even want them in the country, but when a white man strikes them they turned a blind eye because “peace” is the answer. “If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad”(MalcomX, Message to the Grassroots), many people would agree with this sentiment. Why condemn those who want to fight for something they believe in using violence when we as a country are doing the same thing overseas. Later in the speech, Malcolm X calls out the modern house Negros we have today in the United States. A house Negro was the slaves who stayed in the living quarter with their master and were maids and butlers and tended to the children. The latter are the filed Negros who worked in the fields and stayed in
The Ballot or the Bullet, was delivered by Malcolm on April 3rd 1964. This speech was delivered and sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality of Cleveland. In this speech, Malcolm urges the black community to rise over their differences and to unite as a front against the oppression of the white man. Malcolm uses rhetoric to highlight the ideas that, firstly, the white man was an exploiter of the black community, and secondly that the Black community should unite as one brotherhood.
Spanning from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s, America saw the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement as the African Americans struggled to gain rights and opportunities equal to those of their white neighbors. During this time the two most influential speakers of all time emerged, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Junior. Despite their contrasting ideas and rhetorical strategies, these two martyrs had the same passion to motivate people to create justice for all races. Apparent in the practices of both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr are similar methods of persuasion. Specific parallels are found in Malcolm’s speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” where he addresses the upcoming election to persuade the audience to practice Black Nationalism and when
Who do you think of when you hear the term, “civil rights leader?” Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and Abraham Lincoln may come to mind, but one person that we often forget is Malcolm X. Malcolm X was a civil rights activist who played an important role in gaining African-American equality and restoring African-American pride. Malcolm had an interesting perspective about equality that helped convince people that blacks should have equal rights and privileges. He also had an intriguing life! Malcolm X even spent seven years behind bars! However, he restored his image in the public’s eyes. During his lifetime, Malcolm X changed from being a criminal to being a hero by changing his mind set about life.
The American Civil Rights movement was a time of great calamity in our nation’s history. African Americans revolting against the segregation and subordination inflicted by the White man in America, often met by brutality and coercion, in an attempt to honor the long-lasting traditions bestowed upon us by the South. When battling second-class citizenship and oppression there is an array of avenues to take. Like every revolt, there are leaders, the Civil Rights Movement welcomed Martin Luther King JR. and Malcolm X as the two heads and leading activist of the Civil Rights Movement. Although both leaders had the goal of achieving and spreading equality amongst diverse races, both had opposing views on how to achieve the common goal. Martin Luther King believed that promoting a world of peaceful, non-violent protest was the way to lure people in your favor. Malcolm X on the other hand believed that violence should be fought violence, that the only way to stop violence was with more violence until eventually an opposite force is forced to withdrawal. Which, in my opinion, is a very bigoted
Malcolm X, His name is definitely a jab to the racists "X" standing for the rejection of slave names and for his unknown name of his African ancestors. In the speech he wrote "The Ballot or the Bullet", Malcolm X talks about the actions of the white man, about the wrongs he has done, he approached the civil rights issue in a very opposite way compared to the ways of other leaders (civil rights related) , such as Martin Luther King Jr. Instead of trying to intertwine the black and the whites, he mainly focuses on the separation of the two races. Malcolm X believed that the blacks should break away from the white man in cultural, economic, and political ways. He used tactics that connected to his audience emotionally, attacking the ways blacks
“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
King did on scoring racial equality and there is a noticeable line between the two speeches. Malcolm X’s speech at the Harlem Freedom Rally of 1960 gave the message to people that there was only one way to attain racial equality, create a separate, independent nation in the Southeast because he opposed integration and said that it would never work. Malcolm X also demanded that the government paid him billions of dollars in damage fees. Malcolm X’s message was established when he recited,”Why do we want some land of our own? Because land is essential to freedom” (X 1). Malcolm X does not speak about violence leading to get what he wants, but on the other side of Dr. King, Malcolm X portrayed his mind set that in order to be free and equal, land is essential. Malcolm X does not want integration like his fellow leader, Dr. King, but he wants segregation and he clearly sends this to anyone that heard his speech because of his angry and demanding tone. His rage toward the movement is displayed when he exaggerated,”...God will erase the American government and the entire race that it favors and represents, from this planet… and God will then give the whole earth back to the original owners, the black man” (X 2). Malcolm X uses ideas such as God eracing people to make sure that his anger and demands that the earth is given back to the “black man”. Contrasted to Dr. King’s speech that used long and complex sentences, Malcolm X’s
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