Analysis Of The Ballot Or The Bullet

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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 …show more content…

While in the Middle East, he would learn that diverse people could live in harmony and his rhetoric would become unifying, although one could argue that shift began in his delivery of “The Ballot or the Bullet.” Just months after the speech, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination. Most of the credit for the breakthrough goes to Martin Luther King Jr. and his associates for orchestrating the March on Washington. 315 days after delivering “The Ballot or the Bullet” in Detroit, Malcolm X was assassinated by three Nation Of Islam members. The reeducation of African Americans, and all minorities for that matter, remains a work in progress. “The Ballot or the Bullet” serves as a rallying cry to all struggling populations, reminding them of their personal responsibility to improve the state of their existence rather than waiting for assistance. In June, 1964, Malcolm X delivered his first speech as the leader of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. In the same room where his life ended, Malcolm X was quoted as saying “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today” (“Malcolm X 's Speech at the Founding Rally of the Organization of Afro-American

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