The Ballot or the Bullet, by Malcom X

The Ballot or the Bullet

Prior to the realization of blacks as legitimate citizenry of the American nation, the state was faced with numerous attempts to bring the white majority to such a realization. The blacks, who were previously slaves in the land had been freed from slavery but had continuously been denied their basic civil rights and where the same was offered, was too remote as to be of significance. This saw the rise of the likes of Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Adam Clayton Powell, and Reverend Galamison amongst others who tirelessly fought for the realization of such liberties to the point of their own deaths.

Such efforts saw the rise of orators with an ability to move the thoughts of the masses on their current issues through public speeches. In 1963, such a scenario unfolded when Malcolm X gave a speech commonly referred to as ‘The ballot or the bullet’. The speech, in its own making can only be compared to Dr. Martin Luther’s ‘I got a dream’ speech. Whereas the former was given in Cleveland, Ohio the latter was in Washington. The speech, ‘the ballot or the bullet’ was meant to sensitize the African-Americans commonly referred to as Negroes of their struggle to access of their civil liberties as were ideated by the nation upon its inception as a free state.

The rise of such speeches mostly made during demonstrations and mass actions across the United States were based on the continued oppression against the Black American population. Such oppression received such wide outcry more so due to the fact that it was perpetrated by the same government that was meant to act as a protector of its subjects. To great length, the group’s freedom of speech and assembly constantly faced oppression and as such the masses we...

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...ights. He challenged that the African-Americans were to be realized as American citizenry by right and be conferred upon all such rights as were envisaged to be theirs if at all there was to be enjoyment of civil liberties. He also opinioned that there was need to be genuine seek for the administration of the same as the then leaders were only seeking to confer the same rights and freedoms so as to woo the blacks to vote them back in power (Malcolm X, 1963). He recognized that there was an awakening amongst the blacks in their search for equal treatment and realization of political might (Malcolm X, 1963). He thus called upon the leaders to ensure that they were genuine if they wished to get the votes of the blacks as a bloc or else the blacks would awaken and put to power those they willed (Malcolm X, 1963).

Works Cited

Malcolm X, The ballot or the bullet, 1963.