Rhetorical Analysis Of The Ballot Or The Bullet

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

When striving to achieve goals needed for the greater good, sometimes calls for more than a minor disruption but action taken on a monumental level. In this case would you stick with null progress you are in, or on the other hand, would you insist that you will and can resort to violence to develop immediate progress in the situation.

In 1964, Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X was troubled with this problem. With violent and degrading words towards Democrats or anyone that opposed the inequality of African Americans, he gave “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech to lift morale and encourage others to look at violence as a viable option(Malcolm X- The Ballot or the Bullet). Seeing as Martin Luther

Pointing out multiple of MLK’s strategies did not work he explains, one in particular, “ It’s not good to refer to what you’re going to do as a sit-in. That right there castrates you. Right there it brings you down”. Following that statement he says, “ Well, you and I have been sitting long enough and it's time for us today to start doing some standing and some fighting to that up”. The next major effort for equality that African American participated in was the “March on Washington”. Clarifying that the plan intended, did not go as intended, it was actually a trick the white man had played on protesters. Saying that they were just marching to march and singing, but not making improvements towards the ultimate goal. After pointing out the weak strategies he then moves in on his motives to fix the problem. Ending a fierce paragraph with the sentence “ Today it's time to stop singing and start swinging”. Putting more emphasis on his main idea, he then repeats the same idea to start the next paragraph saying, “You can't sing up on some freedom. But you can swing up on some freedom”( Malcolm X- The Ballot or the Bullet).. This idea seems more and more practical because African Americans have tried everything to discontinue the hatred and inequality towards

In an analogy two different objects are being compared to show the significance of the main idea being talked about. Mid speech, while reaching into significant detail about the election and its candidates he exclaims “ In the South they're outright political wolves, in the North they’re political foxes. A fox and a wolf are both canine, both belong to the dog family. Now, you take your choice. You going to choose a northern dog or a southern dog? Because either dog you choose, I guarantee you, you’ll still be in the doghouse”(“ Malcolm X- The Ballot or the Bullet). Comparing wolves to people in the South is practical they are open about their dislike for colored people and want to rule the election any way possible. On the contrast, supposedly on the opposing side but are more tight-lipped are the North, they are sneaky, conniving people that use gerrymandering to win negro vote. Malcolm puts into better words that either one you choose to vote for will still leave you in the doghouse. Meaning ultimately African Americans have no hope for a suitable representative. Not having a representative on the Northern or Southern side for African Americans in politics is giving violence one more reason that it could a viable answer to the