Similarities Between Martin Luther King Jr And Malcolm X

Over past decades, the black community in the US has gone through a total catastrophe, regardless of the Civil Rights Act. There have been and still is a significant voting inequality throughout the south in the nation. Unequal acts continues to oppress the black community. When the blacks try to protest their way out of oppression, the white community is infuriated. Some physical menaces involve southerners bombing black churches and lynching innocent people. At this period of time, African American kneel down and cry with no hope. But there is hope. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are two activist who seem to have the solution to the discrimination. However, these two men have their own distinctive method of trying to solve the same

X claims that non violence makes their community defenseless. Malcolm demonstrates the unfortunate oppression all black people has gone through: “You catch hell ‘cause you’re a black man. You catch hell, all of us catch hell, for the same reason” (X 35). X wants to emphasize the fact that white southerners are their enemies: we have a common oppressor, a common exploiter, and a common discriminator.” (X 52). He wants to deliver the message to the audience that whites are their oppressors and the only way for freedom is to fight back. X states how a “revolution” can only happen if blood is involved. Ultimately, Malcolm X is furious for what his race has gone through. He translates this fury into a concept of rebelling back to the white

King’s distinctive tactic seems to be dominant over Malcolm X’s, as Dr. King thrives to keep the country intact while trying to resolve the catastrophe. King has a clear plan in ending racial segregation. Instead of blatantly going against the white southerners, King wants to negotiate, purify, and be involved in direct actions, all in a non-violent manner. He wishes to take it step by step, and gradually change, not forced, white’s opinion on blacks. On the other hand, Malcolm X, at the end of the story, wants to crush this oppression, even if it could segregate the black and white community apart: “A revolution is bloody. Revolution is hostile. Revolutions knows no compromise. Revolution overturns and destroys everything that gets in its way” (320). Malcolm has a closed mind, where he wished to only resolve the conflict of racial discrimination. If Malcolm ends oppression with segregation, the country would continue to be full of menace. Southerners would never respect african american. They would not change their opinion of how all black people are “barbaric.” Trying to force freedom would not actually end up in freedom. In contrast, King looks at the process as a whole, and hopes to truly end the oppression without major segregation. In essence, Dr. King’s sophisticated method of working with the white community seems to be the best