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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
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.
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
Would you rather listen to a man vulgarly tell the truth or a man peacefully say the similar information? Well, throughout history many people have chosen to listen to the latter. The reason people would choose to listen to a more peaceful man is because he is far less dangerous and more appealing. People during the Civil Rights movement were placed in a very similar situation with Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.King was a man of the christian religion who preached non-violence in the fight for Civil Rights. Vice Versa, Malcolm was a man of Islamic religion who preached violence in the name of justice. Based on Martin’s ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail” seem seeks a mutual understand and equality between African-Americans and racist majority group. On the other hand, Malcolm’s “ Messages to Grassroots’ displayed his urge for the separation for both parties conflicting. Both activist had different solutions for the same problem, similar audiences, and different styles of speech. While both faced the same problem, they had different solutions.
Malcolm X did not want for the African Americans to have to suffer through any more oppression than they had already been facing.
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 ...
Even though Malcolm X was speaking violence into the minds of many fellow African Americans, he persuaded them to use violence against people but only if it seemed necessary. Many people went against what he believed in because of this. They did not agree it was the right way to handle this situation especially since there was already violence present from the racist.
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.
On April 3, 1964, Malcolm X’s speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” was a response speech to Martin Luther king Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, a month prior to Malcolm’s. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. shared a mutual vision – freedom for African Americans. Dr. King was a person who believes that war and violence are unjustifiable; Malcolm X was an advocate of violence, he encouraged it. The two great civil rights leaders of the 1960’s, held opposing political philosophies.
...d and oxford. He started to criticize the mainstream civil rights movement; he challenged Martin Luther King jr’s nonviolence and civil disobedience. Malcolm X started to propose that more was at risk than voting and restaurants (Carson, Clayborne). Malcolm x advised his followers to defend themselves “by any means necessary.”(Lawrence A., Mamiya). Malcolm X encouraged everyone to stop using terms like “nigger” and “colored” to instead use “black” or “African American” (Lewis, Thomas Tandy).
On April 3rd, 1964, during the Civil Rights Movement a Muslim minister gave a rousing and powerful speech in methodist church in Cleveland, Ohio this foreigner and passionate speaker was none other than the infamous Malcolm X. His speech at this occasion was titled “The Ballot or the Bullet,” often considered one of the great successful oratories of the civil rights movement due to his extensive use of ethos, passionate execution of pathos, and liberal application of logos.
African Americans faced an absence of justice on a daily basis. White supremacy has caused an unfairness towards the black lives, having no control or say over their own destiny. Malcolm X can stand by and relate to this life style having grown up and faced it all his life. Malcolm X (1963) states that the “position of wealth, power, and authority that these white Americans now hold…”(p. 2) is causing injustice between the two worlds. These white Americans have so much power and say over the blacks, because they have received all the help they need, which only led the blacks to become even more impoverished with no help. The white world had better education, the backing of the federal government, free of racial discrimination, and had more rights. The injustice of education caused blacks to lose their own right of receiving a good education. Once segregation was passed, they still faced the injustice of the school’s white students. The African Americans would either be harassed, tortured, ignored, or be sympathized by few white students. Going to school should not be this challenging and fearful for any student. Injustices need to be diminished from both worlds so that everyone has a fair chance to achieve the life they
“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.
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.
and Malcolm X was the way they saw and expressed their ideal on racism and equality. As King stated in the book “Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1950s and 1960s”, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” (Letter from Birmingham Jail, 75). In his letter, King Jr. explained why he came to Birmingham City, where was considered as the most segregated city in the country. This city had the large amount of African Americans were brutally opposed. Truthfully, injustice did not only affect the society development, but also felled the moral of human being in that society. The significant tools that Martin Luther King used for fighting against discrimination was non-violent campaign, as he encouraged others. For instance, he has mentioned, “I am convinced for practical as well as moral reasons, nonviolence offers the only road to freedom” (Nonviolence: the Only Road to Freedom, 91). Basically, violent was never used in author’s term. He simply influenced others by peaceful requests on those unjustified laws to be changed. Also, he believed that constitutions and laws were never developed to downgrade and punish any other races. As his biggest hope, “let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep
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.