Dr King Vs Malcom X

The Bark or the Bite

In the 1950s and the 1960s, roughly 100 years after the emancipation proclamation, African Americans still faced the harsh reality of segregation, bombings of their homes and churches, and cruelty among many others. Jim Crow laws were in effect during this time, which mandated segregation in the confederate states and African Americans had a proposal to bring about change. Civil Rights Activists of this time rallied for African American freedom with nonviolent protests as well as civil disobedience. The two prominent civil rights activists that will be talked about are the Rev. Dr. King and the Rev. Malcom X, both of which were very important activists of this time. Rev. Malcom X, born Malcom Little, changed his name

Dr. King sits in a Birmingham jail on allegations of being an “outsider” and writes A Letter from a Birmingham Jail responding to three white clergymen. These men posted in the newspaper about his actions. Rev. Dr. King opens up stating the organizational ties that he has in Birmingham, claiming that he was invited to engage in a nonviolent direct action program but also must add the injustice. He is in Birmingham on a mission and is on a mission similar to St. Paul’s, where he spread the gospel of Jesus. He states that “justice too long delayed is justice denied” and that something must be done. Perhaps his strongest argument, the very graphic examples involving children, invoke sympathy from the clergymen who, more than likely, have children. When accusations of Rev. Dr. King breaking laws arise, he agrees with St. Augustine in saying that “an unjust law is no law at all” and criticizes the “white moderates” for telling him that his method of direct action was incorrect. Also, he did not like the term extremist at first, but began thinking that Martin Luther and Jesus were both extremists, extremists for love. Rev. Dr. King ends stating groups like Rev. Malcom X’s are on the rise and millions of fed up African Americans will begin seeking these, but regardless they will get

Rev King’s major point is that African American injustice has gone on for far too long and black communities want change now, if the whites do nothing with what he is giving them, the blacks will then resort to more violent, Black Nationalist groups. Although his letter is essentially responding to the clergymen, Rev. Dr. King advocates his way of doing things throughout the entire response. His major point basically sums up the entire letter, promoting his nonviolent way of doing this, why it needs to be done, and tells them what will happen if they do not do what he is saying. He does so in a very effective way, he did not threaten anyone nor in any way get violent. He gets his point across by appealing to the clergymen’s moral and religious values, making his letter irresistible for bringing about change. He also warns that if they do not bring forth the change that the African American people, a great population of which are beginning to become sick of the way things are, have asked for that they will begin seeking alternative, violent groups. With Rev. Dr. King’s new found satisfaction of being called an extremist, he believes that it will take an extremist to fix everything that has gone on for so long. Now, whether the whites take an extremist for love or an extremist for hate and violence, like Elijah Mohammed’s Muslim movement, is up to them. These types of groups are springing up throughout America and are made up of people who have simply lost faith in the