Kai Woods
1/13/22
MLK and Malcolm X
Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X were two influential figures in the civil rights movement, who made names for themselves while campaigning for their rights and their people's rights. However, despite their similar goals oriented around facing discrimination, the way they tried to achieve their goals and their ideologies differed.
Martin Luther King believed in non-violence and peaceful protest, staging many set-ins and walks, most notable being the March on Washington, where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. King was also a devout Christian who incorporated his religion into his pleas for equality, which inevitably made his claims seem justifiable to the American people- King knew his audience and how to appeal, being an incredible public speaker and an activist that never stopped looking to the future. It’s not to say that King didn’t have his hardships- after all, he was a black man in the 20th century that actively disregarded what white folks said about him, and he was never silenced. His house was bombed, he was arrested multiple times, he was assaulted by the American Nazi Party and he was stabbed by an assailant. Yet, through all the violence King
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While King called for the end of segregation, Malcolm fully believed that black individuals would never be treated equally within an integrated society. He advocated for the use of self-defense and black empowerment, something still deemed controversial, which could be the reason King became the face of the movement. Their religions also differed, as Malcolm X was part of the Islamic Faith, which often conflicted with his methods of protesting and making a statement. He outwardly detested the ideology of non-violence, making claims that it would never work and that black Americans would never get what they wanted that