Malcolm X's Argument Analysis

The United States has a long and well known history of practicing injustices and oppression toward people of color, more so towards African-Americans. This has emerged many civil rights movements during the 1960’s lead by powerful black leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Though each of these leaders views on how to obtain civil rights for the African American community were polar opposite, their goal was similar. For the sake of this essay, we will discuss three of Malcolm X’s argument, which he makes in his speeches, such as the use of violence for self defense, as a means of communication and as a response to injustice, in order to to justify his views on why he believes that the African-American community should not use the nonviolent approach in order to obtain their goal. We will also analyze how Martin Luther King may have responded to Malcolm X’s arguments, such as his idea

The idea of an abuser beating on another person, while the abused took the beating on himself, did not sit well with him. In the speech “The Ballot of the Bullet” Malcolm X states, “if you are going to die for what you believe in…let your dying being reciprocal.” In other words he is stating that if you are going to die for what you believe in, the fight against each opposing party, in the case the white man and the African-American, should be on equal grounds. One of the justification he makes for this can be found in his Oxford Union Debate speech where he states that nonviolence is not the language the white man speaks. Therefore, in order to be able to “communicate” with the oppressor, each party must speak the same language. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would oppose this view by stating bringing up the idea of the “law of suffering”, one must take on the suffering in order to bring consciousness to the one imposing the