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Rhetorical Analysis Of The Ballot Or The Bullet

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Rhetorical Analysis Essay When striving to achieve goals needed for the greater good, sometimes calls for more than a minor disruption but action taken on a monumental level. In this case would you stick with null progress you are in, or on the other hand, would you insist that you will and can resort to violence to develop immediate progress in the situation. In 1964, Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X was troubled with this problem. With violent and degrading words towards Democrats or anyone that opposed the inequality of African Americans, he gave “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech to lift morale and encourage others to look at violence as a viable option(Malcolm X- The Ballot or the Bullet). Seeing as Martin Luther …show more content…

Pointing out multiple of MLK’s strategies did not work he explains, one in particular, “ It’s not good to refer to what you’re going to do as a sit-in. That right there castrates you. Right there it brings you down”. Following that statement he says, “ Well, you and I have been sitting long enough and it's time for us today to start doing some standing and some fighting to that up”. The next major effort for equality that African American participated in was the “March on Washington”. Clarifying that the plan intended, did not go as intended, it was actually a trick the white man had played on protesters. Saying that they were just marching to march and singing, but not making improvements towards the ultimate goal. After pointing out the weak strategies he then moves in on his motives to fix the problem. Ending a fierce paragraph with the sentence “ Today it's time to stop singing and start swinging”. Putting more emphasis on his main idea, he then repeats the same idea to start the next paragraph saying, “You can't sing up on some freedom. But you can swing up on some freedom”( Malcolm X- The Ballot or the Bullet).. This idea seems more and more practical because African Americans have tried everything to discontinue the hatred and inequality towards …show more content…

In an analogy two different objects are being compared to show the significance of the main idea being talked about. Mid speech, while reaching into significant detail about the election and its candidates he exclaims “ In the South they're outright political wolves, in the North they’re political foxes. A fox and a wolf are both canine, both belong to the dog family. Now, you take your choice. You going to choose a northern dog or a southern dog? Because either dog you choose, I guarantee you, you’ll still be in the doghouse”(“ Malcolm X- The Ballot or the Bullet). Comparing wolves to people in the South is practical they are open about their dislike for colored people and want to rule the election any way possible. On the contrast, supposedly on the opposing side but are more tight-lipped are the North, they are sneaky, conniving people that use gerrymandering to win negro vote. Malcolm puts into better words that either one you choose to vote for will still leave you in the doghouse. Meaning ultimately African Americans have no hope for a suitable representative. Not having a representative on the Northern or Southern side for African Americans in politics is giving violence one more reason that it could a viable answer to the

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Patrick Henry and Malcolm Little (more commonly known as Malcolm X) were powerful spokesmen of their times. Years after Henry persuaded the United States president in time of the American Revolution to fight for the rights of Americans in his “Give me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, Little encouraged the black community of his time to stand for their own deprived civil rights as a race in his own speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet.” While these two men stood at the head of separate movements in different points of history, both believed in a similar goal to be accomplished through the same means: to win their battle for the rights of Americans and African Americans through fighting hard, not necessarily through violence, but through whatever

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“The Ballot or the Bullet” Speech by Malcolm X King Solomon Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan April 12, 1964 Malcolm X speech was not a success because he made the Nation of Islam a regular group, which devoted limitless acts of violence and hate, giving the federal more validation to dissociate and categorize African Americans. His black protectionist outlook called separation instead of unity and equality. “We are nonviolent with people who are nonviolent with us. ‘’ This quote informed that it is considered as a criminal teaches a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks. “A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”

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In this letter Martin Luther King Jr. uses logic to try to persuade his audience that his nonviolent protests and civil disobedience is necessary to gain justice from the government. He stresses that he is disappointed in the church, who is supposed to support desegregation morally, because they are not following their holy principles. He is using the logic that Christian teachings implore them to stand by their fellow man for equality and not sit on the sidelines and try to avoid disagreement while maintaining the status quo. He deplores the clergies agreement with the police force in maintain “peace”. He makes the audience think about why the clergy are going against a fellow Christian who is doing nothing but trying to establish equality for his fellow Negro brothers through nonviolent protests and demonstrations.

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Essay #2: Argumentative Analysis Martin Luther King Jr. introduced a very controversial argument about why he believed that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”(264). In “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King stated that justice is never given by the oppressor and the reason why his protests were very relevant and wise was because the issues needed to be addressed right then and not later. Moving along throughout his entire letter his primary thesis seemed to be that if the people wanted to be free from racial injustice they needed to participate in nonviolent protests. Given his setting and atmosphere, MLK did an extremely impressive job of using kairos and other rhetorical techniques in his piece.

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Rhetorical Analysis Essay By Kevin Tu / Feb 06, 2023 / Ms. Fisher, 9th-grade literature and composition This essay illustrates the use of rhetorical strategies and the use of stylistic choices in the speech by Malcolm X known as, “The Ballot or the Bullet”. That was done on the date of April 6th, 1964, at King Solomon baptist church, Detroit, Michigan. The purpose of this speech was to warn/raise awareness among African-Americans on the following election of the 45th president of the United States, advising them to be careful whom they vote for. Use of rhetorical appeals

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We know that in order to create an effective message whether on speech or paper, the three rhetorical appeals are essential. The Ballot or the Bullet by Malcolm X demonstrates all three appeals superbly. Malcolm X himself builds ethos very well, as well as displays his automatic ethos. He also appeals to logos through an ample amount of solid reasoning and several facts. In this speech pathos is extremely well present and effective.

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Martin Luther King says, “well, then there aren’t enough Black people, even if they arm themselves to win some kind of armed conflict and struggle.” Martin Luther King follows this by saying, “non-violence is the weapon of strength. It’s the weapon of people who are powerful and courageous and brave and heroic and disciplined. It’s not the weapon of the weal, because we’re going to use this nonviolent strategy to actually transform the United States of America against its own

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The speech opened the eyes of many blacks, inspiring a change to begin to occur. Through analogies, metaphors, and a vitriolic and urgent tone, Malcolm X concisely and clearly informs the audience of their mistreatment and encourages them to get their just deserts. X’s intelligence, passion, and oratorical skills helped make “The Ballot or the Bullet” one of the greatest rhetorical acts in black history. This phrase, “The Ballot or the Bullet”, truly defines Malcolm X’s stance on the current treatment of blacks and how he believes a violent response is necessary when all other means of communication are ignored or

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MLK's Philosophy of Non-violence inspired many Americans to create a more meaningful change in the world (McGee). He thought that rather than thinking of an opponent as an enemy, try to relate to them and build an understanding with them (Non-Violence). MLK along with other Civil Rights activists together formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference or the SCLC. The SCLC’s main goal was to encourage and bring people together to conduct non-violent protests for the Civil Rights Movement (Fighting for Equal Rights in America). The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was a protest in which MLK showcased his non-violent efforts to fight against racial discrimination and for civil rights.

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Civil Rights Leader, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., in his speech, “Give Us the Ballot”, emphasizes the importance of African American suffrage and urges many groups of people to do what they can to help this cause. King’s purpose is to inspire the black community to fight for their right to vote through nonviolent protest. He adopts a tone of urgency in order to encourage action from the African American audience, as well as from politicians, white northern liberals, and moderate southerners. Martin Luther King Jr. begins his speech by vilifying the institutions which disobey the Supreme Court’s decision to allow black people to vote and by expounding how the newly enfranchised African American community will vote to make changes in the

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In Detroit of 1964, “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech was given by Malcolm X. He wanted to create a political consciousness; raising to stop people from being unconscious, to take responsibility, to show a performance of black manhood, morally inflected with a religious understanding of the black-Muslim ideals. Anti-colonial struggles in Africa, North Vietnam, and the United States was used to display more violence occurring around the world. Many felt that the Uncle Tom approach was too compromising. Gandhi’s success in India to where he takes on a protest that Martin Luther King wanted to pursue, but the wars around the world mattered because of the black nationalism movement in the U.S. Guerilla warfare, which Malcolm eludes to in his speech.

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Introduction: Malcom X urges the Negro community to fight to gain the equal rights they deserve by taking action against their white oppressors. He emphasizes that blacks will gain their rights either thorough voting, with the ballot, or else through the inevitable violence with the bullet. Thesis [part a] Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., also fighting for the civil rights of black Americans in the 1960s, but in a more peaceful manner, Malcom X takes a different approach.

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According to X, “The ballot or the bullet”... “Now in speaking like this, it doesn't mean that we're anti­-white, but it does mean we're anti­-exploitation,we're anti­-degradation, we're anti­-oppression. And if the white man doesn't want us to be anti-­him, let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us”(Malcolm #2). The essence of Malcolm’s argument is that he is not anti white, he is anti whites oppressing and disenfranchising African Americans and if the white person wants to not be hated, then he should stop hating himself. In a letter written in Mecca, Malcolm X says,“on this pilgrimage, what I have seen,and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions” (Malcolm X).

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