Malcolm X Rhetorical Analysis

Though violence shouldn’t always be your “go-to” solution, in harsh times of oppression it can be morally justified. When pushed to a breaking point, an outburst can be viewed as a turning point that can either make or break your cause. Though there have been instances throughout history where violence led us down a dark road, there have also been instances where it has held a candle up in a dark room so that the path to a better future can be viewed in its full glory.
Not too long ago here in America, we needed the wakeup call that Malcolm X provided us with. His revolutionary acts against oppression helped our nation develop to what it is today, strong and diverse. Malcolm X had a philosophy that he held held close to his heart and opinions that he wasn't afraid to speak on. In one of his speeches, Malcolm X said he wanted to obtain freedom,”...by any means necessary.” and that if you weren’t truly dedicated to the cause you were fighting for then,”...to get freedom out of your vocabulary.” Malcolm X preached that the use of violence was a basic human right to fight against hate crimes. His belief in how a strong defense, even violent if necessary, has spurred a faction of modern civil rights.

Though he was in a geographically different place, the struggles of Ishmeal Beah as a child soldier can also justify the use of violence to fight oppression.

When children are kidnapped and torn away from their families to fight for something they know little about, violence can be justifed. In the book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of A Boy Soldier, Ishmeal was forced to,”become the very thing he feared,” and he also tells us that the military,”brainwashed [them]..” and that the boy soldiers had become,”...addicted to cocaine, marijuana, and “brown-brown.” The abuse that Ishmeal and his fellow boy soldiers endured should not happen to anyone. Fighting back against a terroristic regime should be the standard because no child should have to endure that type of

treatment.
When flowers bleed human blood and children shoot machine guns, we begin to see that the world is an imperfect place. But the issue in this isn’t if violence is defendable in times of oppression, it's when isn't violence defendable, especially when people around you are being hurt deliberately based on things that are out of their control. No matter where we are born, we all deserve equal rights. If our rights are denied, we have the responsibility to demand them through peaceful, and if necessary, violent means. All of us were born on this same Earth and though we might have grown up in different conditions, we should all get the same rights and when we aren't given those rights it is justifiable that we fight for them and obtain them by any means necessary.