'Can We Attain an Equal America?';
Can we really achieve equality? I do believe it is possible but it is obvious that there is no single answer to such a question. Everyone has their own opinion in regards to this question, however those opinions are useless unless they are actually carried out. According to W.E.B. DuBois racial equality can be achieved through the 'talented tenth,'; an African American elite that would be leaders and role models for the rest of the black community. In The Future of the Race, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Cornel West address the topic of Dubois' 1903 essay 'The Talented Tenth.'; When it comes to achieving equality among all races I don't particularly agree with DuBois' idea of a 'Talented Tenth.'; I believe that equality must be attained through a group effort and every individual should make decisions and choices on their own. Often this is hard because people often have the same beliefs that their parents have. And much too often these beliefs go against what is required for this nation to achieve equality. Furthermore, in order to achieve equality I believe that a greater effort must be given by those in the majority, since the majority has control over many more things than minorities. West agrees when he states that every major institution in American society-churches, universities, courts, academies of science, governments, economies, newspapers, magazines, television, film, and others-attempted to exclude black people from the human family in the name of white supramissit ideology,'; say West. This being the case I can understand why we have trouble moving forward towards equality. Above all, I believe that violent measures only cause separation and should never happen in an effort for equality. Racism has been fought for hundreds of years in this country and we have obviously made great progressions through civil rights movements but I do not believe that it can be fully eliminated by any means.(pg. 80)
People like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X have made critical contributions to the civil rights movement, and their thoughts should be used as a road map reward. For most of his life Malcolm X believed that the way to achieve equality in America was to preach separatism between blacks and whites. These ideas of 'black supremacy'; led many to believe that Malcolm X was an extremist. He believed that...
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...o be black. To eliminate racism we must first attempt to eliminate prejudiced ideas about skin color. I believe that the media plays a large role in making people incorporate black with evil. The media seems to brainwash society with such absurd ideas. For example, black males more than whites seem to play the role of the 'bad guy,'; more often in movies. Of course others may disagree with this theory however, I do believe the media should not give the wrong messages about being black. (pg. 81 Future of the Race)
The bottom line is that racial equality can be achieved in America. Keep in mind there are many different opinions and debates on how we should tackle this issue. However I believe the key to succeeded is working together to achieve a common goal. This goal will ultimatley make the world a better place to live in for all races. We must also stop looking at the world as black and white and start realizing that we are all human beings. The right path to peace is through non-violent demonstrations that will help the cause. Finally, we must teach future generations that life is too short to hate everyone who doesn't look like you. And love is the key to happiness and success.
...So the question still remains, has American society really come that far in race relations and where do we go from here? Martin Espada answers the question by illustrating the intense level of racism experienced by a minority living in modern society. The civil rights movement did make positive changes for the African-American community on various different political and social levels. However, racism needs to be broken down to its smallest components, which are the individuals who support and teach racist attitudes. The family itself is the basic unity of society. Therefore, the only way racism will be completely eliminated on a social level is if it is stopped on the individual level. Treating racism as a social phenomenon will provide short-term solutions, but will not treat the virus of hatred perpetuating its continued existence in our society today.
Each speaker, Martin Luther King Jr, Stokely Carmichael, and Malcolm X, has different opinions and practices on the matter of Human Rights or in others terms, black power. Dr. King is precise in demonstrating non-violence and peaceful protests. Carmichael, after seeing the personal way many white officers and those against him were, as well as what they did to those like him, he did not necessarily advocate violence, but said it was sometimes essential in terms of self-defense. Malcolm X was one of the polar opposite characters. In my eyes and through my readings, Malcolm X incited violence and persuaded the black people that followed him to “hate the white man”. Unlike Dr. King and somewhat Carmichael, Malcolm did not preach peace, but by any means to get their way, which was usually violence.
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.
Traditionally, examination of the black Civil Rights movement focuses on the careers of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Dr. King and Malcolm X had very different ideas on how to solve the racial discrimination in America. Dr. King was an integrationist who used non-violent protest to focus the media on the moral wrongs the dominant white society imposed on blacks. Dr. King believed that exposing the outrages of segregation would force the government to mend the system. Malcolm X was a separationist who believed in fighting back when attacked and advocated that the blacks in this country should take what by all means is rightfully theirs. The white system was corrupt, argued Malcolm X, and blacks should start their own system rather than wait for the white society to internally fix theirs.
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...
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were both great role models and had a great impact on the African American youth. Their methods may have been different to each other but both of the ways that were used resulted in being extremely effective and contributed to towards the end of racial discrimination in America. Although, they are both very famous historical figures, Martin Luther King’s method is believed to be better than Malcolm X because of the excessive recognition and appreciation he received. This theory is proposed because King received a Nobel Prize for his work, there is a National Holiday in American commemorating him and Martin’s “I have a dream” speech that he gave on the March of Washington is still remembered by many American to this very day. In the end Malcolm finally agreed with Martin’s approach and also expressed his beliefs on how they both wanted to live in society full of freedom, peace, justice and equality. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were both assassinated and died at very young age, trying to make their country a better place filled with love and acceptance for all and hatred for none.
Numerous leaders have made tremendous impacts throughout the history of the world. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the lives and philosophies of civil rights activists Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were prominent leaders during the Civil Rights Era. They both had very different philosophies and methods on the racial emancipation of African-Americans. Despite their differences, they shared a common goal to live in a society with equal opportunity and a world free of segregation.
Malcolm X was particularly firm in his opinions of the nonviolent strategies advocated by Martin Luther King, Jr. During a November 1963 address, Malcolm ridiculed the theory that African Americans could achieve their freedom nonviolently. "The only revolution in which the goa...
America has always been a country with different cultures, races, and people. Only, not everyone has been accepting of different kinds of people. A persons thoughts on another person can differ depending on a person's race, gender, or age. In Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird, racial equality is nonexistent. The African Americans were treated like they weren’t people, and were totally isolated from the Maycomb, Alabama society. America will never achieve true racial and social equality because people are ignorant, have a history of being prejudiced, and are unjust.
Despite all these accepted images of successful black people "selling" the idea that the color of a person's skin is irrelevant, racism still exists and will forever exist in America. It is a never-ending phenomenon that is ingrained in American life. Racism is America, just as America is built around the idea of racism. As the civil rights activist and scholar Derrick Bell would say, "Racism is an integral, permanent, and indestructible component of this society." He proclaims that no matter what blacks do to better their status, they are doomed to fail as long as the majority of whites do not see t...
...at are being fed to us by the media. This is definitely the harder way of doing things but there is power in numbers and even more power when those numbers are the people of the United States. We could leave the media powerless so that nothing they write even matters because we already know who we are and we refuse to fall into any kinds of racial stereotypes. One last thing that I’d like to mention is that it’s important to know that even if you are white and you think that racial injustice doesn’t affect you, it does. It’s also very important that you are aware of what is going on in your society since as a majority of the people it is your duty to help the minority of the people. Everybody, regardless of race, should be an advocate for social and racial justice because that is what being a decent and good human being is. So don’t be ignorant or encourage ignorance.
...tter? We can change our implicit attitudes towards the African American group by exposing ourselves to influential African Americans, but people won’t look at pictures everyday of them. When Barack Obama was running for president and then became president of the United States the results didn’t change, even though we were being exposed to an admired African American. George Wallace said while being inagurated as governor “Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” This does still hold to be true but not in the sense that he meant it. We still judge and make assumptions based on color and people self-segregate in some situations. We don’t ever know if it will ever really be equal, since we can’t change what happened over fifty years ago; but I think over time it will become less and less of an issue- it will still be present but not as distinct.
In the U.S there have been a lot of people who’ve had political influence in our government, and the person that interested me the most was Malcolm X. Malcolm X was a African American civil rights leader who fought so African Americans could get the same rights like everyone else. Malcolm X was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. Before, his name was Malcolm Little, but later changed it to Malcolm X when he joined the Nation of Islam. Like many political leaders, Malcolm X had his own method of how he thought was the right action to use to get his objective. To accomplish the goal of desegregation and equality of black people, “he believed that black people should get their rights by any means necessary”# He criticized nonviolence and opposed those who favored or used it. Malcolm X went throughout the North and the South making speeches about his ideas and what he thought was right, and he encouraged all black people to fight for their rights and protection. As he became more popular and well known by everyone, he influenced people by giving black people the courage to stand up for themselves and fight back, made a lot of them join him with his ideas, and criticized the government for all the bad things it was doing.
Every generation faces new challenges and new problems to which we have progressed, conquered or simply just swept right under the rug. In today’s world we are increasingly facing numerous social problems, such as income disparity, unemployment, political instability amongst many others, but racism seems to have resurfaced in these past years. Although, the United States has come a long way in the issue of racism, it has never completely conquered it. Incidents such the shooting at Ferguson Missouri has raised an upheaval of protesters against the Country’s system that claims equal treatment and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race or gender. Incidents such as the one previously mentioned, clearly depicts that white-power continues
In history we know that no two men are alike but, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were phenomenal people and leaders. Both had visualized some type of change in the future, yet were not literally able to see it. Both Dr. King and Malcolm X set out to bring a sense of confidence to blacks all over the United States. Their main purpose was to help instill black’s power and strength so that they could overcome racial disparity and prejudice that surrounded them, but both of them had very unique and distinct different ways of promoting their message. Martin was more geared and focused on equality and wellness of the world as a whole, a Malcolm X’s personal interpretation of the world was very well blinded by anger, bitterness, and the desire to get revenge at the expense of the world that he thought treated him unfairly.