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Thoughts and analysis of malcolm x the ballot or the bullet
Thoughts and analysis of malcolm x the ballot or the bullet
Relationship between politics and religion
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Malcolm X was one of the most revolutionary black power advocate and civil rights leader in American history. It is the unfairness, the racism, and pain that he experienced in his past that fueled his ability to inspire people through his speech. Malcolm X gave African Americans a hope that one day they would no longer be looked down upon and treated unfairly because of the color of their skin. In April 1964, Malcolm X gave his “Ballot or the Bullet” speech to a group of blacks in Ohio in light of the upcoming November presidential election. In the speech he stressed, How Blacks should fight for civil-rights in America, He also stressed the immediate need for not only the black right to vote, but also vote for blacks equality in the United …show more content…
No matter who you are or what you believe in. To solve this problem people must “submerge” their differences and realize that they have the same problems. In the speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet” X also talks about Religion, X states that “Although I’m still a Muslim, I’m not here tonight to discuss my religion. I’m not here to try and change your religion. I’m not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about”. In this quote, he shed light on the idea of how religion is interfering with justice because it creates division, conflict, and hate between one another. Malcolm X, the idea of religions is that religion was a private matter and should only be between God and the believer. In another quote, Malcolm X states “Whether we are Christians or Muslims or nationalists or agnostics or atheists, we must first learn to forget our differences”. He encouraged people to put aside their religious beliefs and come together to fight for the rights of black people in order to remain fully united as …show more content…
Malcolm x also against segregated school System. He believed “A segregated school system produces children who, when they graduate, graduate with crippled minds”. Even though the school is segregated but it’s the white men who are controlling the schools and white men don’t want better future for the blacks “They 'll always give you the lowest or the worst that there is to offer”. He also says in order to grow stronger you have to take control of everything, just like “the white man has control of his, you need to control
“It’ll be the ballot or it’ll be the bullet. It’ll be liberty or it’ll be death.” These are the famous words of Malcolm X in his speech The Ballot or the Bullet. In April, 1964 Malcolm X stood in front of a large crowd in Cleveland, Ohio and explained what the ballot or bullet meant. He was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and fought to make all African-Americans equal. Malcolm X explained to his audience using a great appeal to ethos, pathos and logos that African-Americans should fight for racial economic and social justice without different religion views standing in the way. He told his audience instead of fighting, meaning the bullet, they could vote for their own leaders or better leaders to represent them, meaning the ballot.
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.
“I’m for the truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole” (X). This quote by Malcolm X represented his attitude towards equality and self-empowerment. The true Malcolm X was a passionate human rights activist as well as an extremely outspoken man during the fifties and sixties. X encouraged millions of African Americans to fight for what they believed in and to take pride in their ethnicity. X persuaded a multitude of African Americans that they are supreme and should not be degraded for their skin color. He learned at a very early age if he wanted something in life, he had to make some noise
In 1964, Malcolm X gave a speech entitled “The Ballot or the Bullet” which described how African Americans should fight for civil rights in America. Malcolm X emphasizes the importance of voting as a solution to ending discrimination against African Americans. He addresses both the poor voting decisions and also the denial of legitimate voting rights to African Americans. Because elections have been so narrowly decided in recent elections, the Black vote is the deciding factor in elections. Whites have also prevented African Americans from participating in the electoral process.
Malcolm X had an interesting childhood that ended up shaping how he would end up as an adult. Malcolm had a very large family, he was one of eight children. His mothers’ name was Louise Norton Little. She was a stay at home mom and cared for her children. His father, Earl Little, was a very outspoken Baptist minister and an avid supporter of the Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. This is where his life started to get interesting. Earl's civil rights activism prompted death threats from the white supremacist organization Black Legion, forcing the family to relocate twice before Malcolm's fourth birthday. ( www.malcolmx.com p 1). Earl wanted nothing to do with violence and wanted to keep his family safe from harm. He tried to put as much distance between him and the Black Legion. Despite his efforts to elude the Legion, in 1929, their home in Lansing, Michigan, was burned to the ground. Two years later, Earl's body was found lying across the town's trolley tracks (www.malcolmx.com p 1). Police declared that both of these incidents were in fact accidents and not attacks on the family by the Black Legion. This violent end to Malcolm’s father’s life ...
Malcolm X begins breaking down the bridge between Black and White America at the beginning of the speech, phrasing his sentences in such a way as to convince his audience of the fact that your place of residence does not determine who you are, and therefore blacks shouldn't identify with White America. Though blacks are considered "citizens" of the United States, Malcolm X asserts "Everything that came out of Europe, every blue-eyed thing, is already an American. As long as you and I have been over here, we aren't Americans yet." Malcolm X continuously refers back to the concept for the rest of his speech, stating that blacks are not Americans; rather, they are "just" Africans. He begins the sentence with "Everything that came out of Europe," creating the impression that absolutely everybody from Europe was accepted into American society, including low class criminals and other people of such low moral character, while all blacks, even highly educated individuals such as MLK, Jr. are still looked down upon in societythis statement fuels the already passionate and strong hatred of his black audience.
Malcolm X, while being a civil rights activist, was a man of poor ethics who preached racism to his listeners. He did so in an extraordinarily unsubtle fashion. He constantly referenced his hatred for whites along with the idea of African American superiority, as opposed to be simply preaching for equality. For example, in a compilation of speeches delivered by Malcolm (Compiled by Marian B Mcleod), Malcolm’s speech given at the Harvard Law School Forum is one that specifically supports the previous claim. Here is an excerpt from a review of the speech he gave that day: “ Malcolm X objected
While some may say that he wanted equality and integration that is wrong, he believed that the blacks should be superior and that the whites should suffer. Malcolm publicly states that the “chickens coming to roost” when former president JFK passed away. This proves the counter claim wrong because he was taunting a dead white president. He would fight for the blacks to be superior and that disproves that Malcolm wanted integration he just wanted to be superior.
In the letter, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr, and the speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet” by Malcolm X, the authors discuss their very different viewpoints on what form of freedom would it take to accomplished their goal. While King believes that peaceful approaches would allow the black community to achieve equality with the white Americans, Malcolm X thinks achieving equality with white Americans is nearly impossible; therefore, he preaches a separatist doctrine. Although King and X are both fighting for the black community’s rights and their integration into the nation’s system, their approaches differ significantly. King and X differ in three main areas: their ultimate goals, the strategies to accomplish those goals, and their use of rhetoric.
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.
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...
Contrasting with Martin Luther King’s opinion, Malcolm showed his dislike extremely strong to white people. Suspiciously to the whites, he was willing to use “by any means necessary” to achieve equality. His philosophy showed the very sharp different to Martin Luther King’s. He promoted nationalist and separatist doctrines. He strongly believed that by the revolution and compulsion, black people could gain their rights to live and delicate in the society. According to his famous “By any means necessary”, he aggressively mentioned that “If it’s necessary to form a Black Nationalist army, we’ll form a Black Nationalist army. It’ll be the ballot or the bullet. It’ll be liberty or it’ll be death” (The ballot or the bullet, 171). He also joined the Nation of Islam, which was a religious taught racial separation, the inherent evil of white people, also the necessary to embrace African culture. The leader of this religious was Elijah Muhammad, who appealed to young Malcolm, because it embraced the richness of black history and culture, while completely rejecting white society and values. It is believed that Malcolm X wanted to influent other black people that do not see themselves through white’s view. He believed that black people would impossibly value themselves it they continue take to the standard of valuation that lower their value. As he said “There’s been a revolution, a black revolution,
The history of the United States has in it much separation or segregation due to race. For a long time our country has seen racism as a large problem and this has caused ethnic groups to be looked down upon and forced into a lifestyle of difficulties and suppression. Due to this, races, particularly African-Americans, have been forced to deal with unequal opportunity and poverty, leading to less honorable ways of getting by and also organizations that support change. Malcolm X is one strong example of an African American man who became apart of a group acted against it, uniting people to promote the advancement of colored people and change. Malcolm's thoughts towards race and civil right in the previous years were displayed in a less way to the people and "by any means necessary" perspective. After his pilgrimage in 1964 his view of civil rights had quickly changed into a more complete view of civil rights, and the peoples views towards him. No one really knows what kind of impact Malcolm X would have had on history if he had not been assassinated. His beliefs and philosophy did gain him a place in history as one of the best-known Black Nationalist Leaders. Everyone seems to have known who Malcolm X was, and he ranks high with all other Black leaders. His ideas were radical and he was very out spoken. He was a major force in the development of black history. He fought not only for his people but also for all oppressed people everywhere. He was well spoken and he laid the groundwork for the black power movement of the late l960's.
As one of the most proficient civil rights activist of the 1960's, Malcolm X and his speeches were very influential but particularly one speech was highly esteemed, that being the Ballot or the Bullet speech. A speech that was given after the "I have A Dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King. Despite, Dr. Martin Luther King being a pacifist and also a civil rights activist as well; Malcolm X was more tyrannical and advocated the use of violence. During this era, the democrats were in control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, therefore both the Senate and the House of Representatives were leaning towards providing more civil rights to African-Americans. The purpose of Malcolm X’s speech was to convince African Americans to become more politically aware and to vote members of their own race into office. The year 1964 is known for civil rights activists, racist groups, and political strife. In order to achieve this goal and increase the speeches effectiveness, X utilizes a variety of rhetorical strategies within his speech.