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How Did Billy Joel's Song 'We Didn T Start The Fire'

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Billy Joel’s song “We didn't start the fire” is a song easily recognizable by Americans. The song written by the self taught historian references many national and international events taking place in the mid-to-late 1900’s along with the chorus which states Americans have always had a fire burning within them throughout history. As the song lists the events that shaped the world, one leader with a self started fire is mentioned: Malcolm X. The fire he started lasted from his birth to his death and left a somewhat inspiring legacy for newer generations.
Malcolm Little was born into a family who had already ignited a fire within the civil rights movement. His father, Earl Little, had been an involed member of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro …show more content…

14). Once he returned to America, his spiritual journey became public as he became the second most famous speaker in the United States in 1963 (“Facts” par. 10). X established an argument of civil rights which was extremely radical compared to Martin Luther King Jr. While King advocated for only peaceful protests, X was willing to end racism “by any means necessary,” including violence which was stated in his infamous speech, “The Ballot or The Bullet” (“Malcolm” par. 11). X began to spread his beliefs through his organization of “Afro-American Unity” which was created with ties to the nation of islam to help defend the rights of all Africans (Myers page 158). The goal of the Organization of Afro-American Unity was to eliminate racism throughout society and economically progress. The organization only allowed people of African descent to join and donate. X taught his followers followers to stand up to racial slurs and even become violent when needed to show that the group was willing to eliminate oppression at any cost (Naoman par.

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