Malcolm X: Speech: Martin Luther King

879 Words4 Pages
Good morning, today I am in the company of two of the USA’s most prominent voices against racial discrimination and segregation, Martin Luther King and Malcolm Little, known to many of you as Malcolm X. My first question: what gave you the willpower to fight against something so openly as opposed to many who simply accepted it.

MLK: Since I was a child, I’ve experienced segregation and it just never seemed right that people are discriminated against due to the colour of their skin. Action needs to be taken so that everyone is truly equal and as I said in my speech, hopefully one day in the future those of different ethnicities will be able to live together without the problem of segregation.

M.X: Being both a Muslim and an African American my youth was rough but I came out of them stronger and I believe that to achieve something concrete we have to be prepared to do anything for our case.

Thank you very much. Moving on to your famous speeches – ‘I have a Dream’ by Martin Luther King and ‘The Ballot or the Bullet’ by Malcolm X. What do you think made your speech most effective – the way you used your language or the context you spoke in?

MLK: I definitely think the context was important because it gave a basis for the speech to reach people. Never before in our nation’s history have people been willing to make a change and this atmosphere allows me to spread my thoughts. However, language is always important; I use a lot of descriptive and emotive language because only