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Compare And Contrast Malcolm X And Martin Luther King

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The unity and determination that made the civil rights movement one of the most successful movements in American history, was achieved after a long period of division and internal conflicts. The reason behind these conflicts the new ideologies that were gaining popularity, with leaders like Malcolm X and Martin Luther king promoting opposite ways of approaching violence and gaining equality. Malcolm X promoted a movement in favor of self-defense and violence, with the target of achieving equality by any means necessary, in contrast to Martin Luther King’s nonviolent ideology inspired by the teachings of Gandhi. Due to the difference of ideology and beliefs of these two leaders, the black community had a period of division in a time when unity …show more content…

His origins were extremely different from Martin Luther King origins, that justifies why he did not support the nonviolent ideology: he was raised in an unprivileged family, he was self-educated, his house was bombed and his father was murdered by white supremacists. All these events made Malcolm X develop hate towards the white community since childhood, justifying why he was completely against Martin Luther king's way of surrendering to whites during protests. Owing to his violent mentality, his speeches always had an aggressive and violent tone with the purpose of making his audience feel humiliated, making them develop anger and hate towards the white community and Martin Luther king. He stated multiple times that the African American pride has been lost, and during a press conference he stated: "cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves" (A Declaration of Independence). He believed that through racism and segregation, the average African American was being damaged mentally and physically so much that he did not value himself capable of being considered equal to the white community, and with all the violence and humiliation that was being received through nonviolent protests, Martin Luther King was consolidating a mentality of inferiority and weakness in the community. This rivalry between these two leaders was well documented, and even if Martin Luther King made no statements regarding this rivalry, Malcolm X publicly clarified that he considered the nonviolent ideology wrong, by stating multiple times that Martin Luther King was being paid by the white community to promote this humiliating

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