A Vote for a Better Future
Black Americans of today need to register to vote and make use of their voting rights if they want to see a change to the current state of democracy. In the
contemporary world of today Americans are said to be living in the most equal nation, one where its citizens are entitled to a variety of inalienable rights, one in particular being the right to vote. However this was not always the case. From the times of the late Malcolm X, we have not made much progress in our voting affairs. We have the choice and ability to vote, but are we as a people (the black community) utilizing these rights to the utmost? Have we been using our votes to our advantage, or making use of our votes at all? Statistics and I say no. We did not always have choice or say in how things were governed and now that we do, I would hope to see all Black Americans jumping at the chance to be a part of the decision making. Think back to not even a half century ago when this privilege was not ours, and there were many a people ready to give up all they had, their lives and more for it. Malcolm X the revolutionary in his struggle for freedom stressed the importance of Voting. He emphasized the power of the vote and the importance of being granted the right of voting, and even now not as many as need be are making use of their vote.
A good beginning is Malcolm X’s speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet” delivered
April 3, 1964 in Cleveland, Ohio; this speech was devoted to the voting issues of that era. The most significant ideas of that speech that I would like to discuss are exploitation of African-Americans and
This struggle was not easy; it was obvious that there were individuals that disagreed with blacks having voting rights. When Malcolm spoke out in “An Appeal to African Heads of State”, he discussed his dissatisfaction with the American government’s willingness to protect the lives its African-American citizens from blatant racists’ murder attacks. Malcolm labels the African-Americans as defenseless. He refers to three recent cases. One case there were two black bodies were found in the Mississippi River, another in Georgia where an unarmed African-American educator was brutally murdered and the last when three civil-rights leaders disappeared completely. Although it was uncertain if they were murdered, the people were l...
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...amilies would less.
I brought up the question of whether or not people think that voting should be
required as a citizen, because I think it would substantiate a better a
representation of the nation. The results show that the majority a 60% or 20
people disagreed. I would expect that everyone wants the option and does not
want to feel obligated, but I do not see how this in any way could be anything
but constructive.
When I asked if people think there will ever be a Black/African-American
president, results showed mixed answers, majority 9 people and 27% said moderately disagree. This surprised me, to answer there will never be a Black president ever, is extreme, I do believe there will be a Black president, perhaps not in the near future, but for someday it seems reasonable.
The last questions of the survey included. Do you think that elections are
biased and are typically in favor of the white voters? 33% strongly agreed. And do you think African Americans are under-represented in elections? 22 people or 67% answered strongly or moderately agree.
If there was any one man who demonstrated the anger, the struggle, and the beliefs of African Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malcolm X. The African American cultural movement of the 1920s lost momentum in the 1930s because of worldwide economic depression. The Great Depression helped to divert attention from cultural to economic matters. Even before the stock market crash of 1929, unemployment and poverty among blacks was exceptionally high. It was under these difficult conditions that Malcolm X experienced his youth in the South. Malcolm X was a very controversial character in his time. He grew up in a very large family. His father hunted rabbits to sell to the white people for money, and his mother stayed home to take care of all the children. Several times when he was young, his family was forced to relocate due to the racist groups that would burn or run them out of their home like the Ku Klux Klan. One of these groups called the Black Legion killed his father by tying him to the railroad tracks. Malcolm’s father had life insurance but was not given to his family because they said that Earl Little had committed suicide. This was quite impossible because his head was bashed in and he tied himself to the railroad. Without his father’s income, Malcolm's family was forced to get government help and food. Applying for this type of assistance brought many white Social Workers into their home. They asked questions and interrogated the entire family. Malcolm’s mother always refused to talk or let them in.
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
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.
Did it really collapsed? There are people who are not allowed to vote because they are black. There are people who are labeled as criminals because they are black. When people see black people they think they are drug dealers. Black people still don’t have right to vote just as one of the examples that Michelle Alexander give us at the begin of her book, she says that Jarvious Cotton was denied to vote because he was black and he was arrested for some reason In his life. How come his father, grandfather and his great, great grandfather didn’t got a chance to vote? No one was allowed to veto in his family history, Cotton’s great- great grandfather couldn’t vote because he was the slave, then his great grandfather, he was beaten to death by Ku Kluy Klan because he was a slave and he tries to vote, then his father tries to vote and they give him so much from and he even had to take the test. It should be the other way around the those people should we
To get to true equality, blacks must also be granted the power of the ballot. For it will liberate them and allow them to participate in the political process from which they were exempt from by whites. When blacks are able to vote for what is in the best interest of their black community then they will be able to improve their way of living. For years whites have decided what is in the best interest of blacks and Du Bois calls for an end to this system of dependency by granting blacks political power through voting. Du Bois states, “Negroes must insist continually, in season and out of season, that voting is necessary to modern manhood, that color discrimination is barbarism, and that black boys need education as well as white boys” (Pg. 47). Blacks must take action to pursue equality into the minds of white Americans. They need to be able to have the same rights as whites. Once blacks are able to get educated as the white man is able to, then they will be able to improve their place in society which whites have put them in. If blacks have the ability to get educated then they must be allowed to, based on their own free will to make their own life choices. In turn, society can prosper once true equality is sought
In addressing and confronting the problem of injustices among the black Americans in the American society, particularly the violence that had happened in Birmingham, and generally, the inequality and racial prejudice happening in his American society, King argues his position by using both moral, social, and political references and logic for his arguments to be considered valid and agreeable.
Three models are used throughout the article to describe what this trust entails and how it has been effected. The first model is psychological involvement which “...captures the effects of individual efficacy, group efficacy, political ideology, and party identification” (Mangum 4). This model relates the lack of trust African Americans have in the government to their shortage of participation in politics. If a group of people or an individual do not feel as though the government is being responsive for their needs, they will refuse to participate as they feel they will not be able to make a change. The article mentions that the party in government directly affects how African Americans feel toward the government. When the democrats have control they feel as though their rights will be better protected and improved. Whereas if the republicans are in power they feel as though these rights may be infringed upon. The second model that is mentioned is Policy Satisfaction. This model states that if a group of people are not satisfied with the policies that control government then they will be less inclined to respect them as a governing body. The main policy that affects African Americans is dealing with and ending discrimination. The third model is Descriptive Representation. This pertains to the idea of not being represented in government. The current representation in government is majorly white. This makes it difficult for African Americans to have hope for change. For example, a white congressman may be less inclined to address issues such as institutional and systematic racism than that of a black
The civil rights movement in the 1960’s led to a heated debate on how the issues of racial relations should be dealt with and what would be the proper actions to take next based on American values. The struggle for African-Americans to be treated equally as American citizens began long before the 1960’s, but this was the time when we saw the youth become increasingly fed up with being treated as second class citizens and could no longer accept the slow process of much needed change. As a result, more radical leaders began to emerge such as Malcolm X as well as a number of other leaders who would prove to be completely resistant to the civil right movements such as Governor George Wallace. Malcolm X was a revolutionary leader in the civil rights movement and on April 3, 1964 he made his powerful “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech. In this speech he
In the year leading up to elections, we are committed to holding all candidates for office accountable to the needs and dreams of black people” (Marino 6). The movement has done far from that, they have wreaked havoc on the country by lying about police and the other branches of the justice system. Americans need to learn to appreciate the differences of individuals. The country will not move forward in race-relations if organizations like BLM continue to inflame
We believe that the congress of the United States should pass a Civil Right's Legislation for Black Rights. We have been freed from our slavery but that is not enough. The congress has passed the right to free us from slavery; why shouldn't they go the rest of the way and grant us all of our rights as a U.S Citizen? Currently, we are in limbo. We do not have the right to own property, to vote, or to become educated or any of the natural rights given to a citizen. We are free men and it means nothing. We are not protected from the Black Codes that the Southerners have made against us. Because of the Black Codes we can not enjoy the freedom we have been graciously granted. We need help in overcoming these new codes. President Lincoln has said on this topic: "And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that any provision which may be adopted by such state government in relation to the freed people of such state, which shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent as a temporary arrangement with their present condition as a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National Executive" (Lincoln, 19). The African-American race is no less qualified as a person than anyone else. We can do jobs just as well as the whites, if not better, since we have been doing their dirty work for years. The Freedmen's says "His personal rights as a freedman once recognized in law and assured in practice, there is little reason to doubt that he will become a useful member of the great industrial family of nations. Once released from the disabilities of bondage, he will somewhere find, and will maintain, his own appropriate social position" (Final, 26).
It’s a good thing we’re not property, or else we wouldn’t have a voice. Voting is a privilege in a world that isn’t universally setup that way. Some nations do not even allow their people to vote. The US gives its citizens that opportunity. However, it was not always that way. People, such as me, were considered property in the US from 1619 till 1869 - a very long time, so I would argue voting today as an African American is more of a privilege.
Recently you have received a letter from Martin Luther King Jr. entitled “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In Dr. King’s letter he illustrates the motives and reasoning for the extremist action of the Civil Rights movement throughout the 1960’s. In the course of Dr. King’s letter to you, he uses rhetorical questioning and logistical reasoning, imagery and metaphors, and many other rhetorical devices to broaden your perspectives. I am writing this analysis in hopes you might reconsider the current stance you have taken up regarding the issues at hand.
Racism in politics seems to be a primary topic that has grabbed the attention of the public due to the fact of people waking up and noticing the problem. Originally after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, in 1870 the first black U.S. senators were elected to office. Then after those few senators, there was a long time where none were elected. Racism still has not disappeared, even after multiple attempts to stop it. In politics today, lawmakers consider many movements such as “Black Lives Matter” and even consider these movements in the presidential candidate debates. Needless to say, this conversation would be nonexistent if racism was not in politics.
African-Americans may sometimes wonder at the contradictory facts about their history presented in many standard history texts. These texts state that blacks were given the right to vote in 1870, yet the same texts will acknowledge that this right did not really exist for African-Americans until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Assuredly, the purpose of this speech was to enlighten the minds of many Black Americans and engaged them in the fight for the civil rights. They now understand the situation at hand based on the vivid details expressed by X in his speech. As a result of X speaking up for the nation of blacks, he instilled the idea that African Americans should vote and become more politically active, by this motivation, he has established a new philosophy in the minds of the Black Americans, that being to seek equality.