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Similarities Between Martin Luther King Jr And Malcolm X

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Tyler Solomon Professor Teague HIST1152 April 7, 2024 Civil Rights Paper During the twentieth century, the United States was a battleground for African Americans as they fought for civil rights while defining their different visions of freedom and liberation. These debates were not only verbal confrontations but were also shown through texts and speeches that offered competing visions of freedom. For example, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and his "Where Do We Go From Here" speech outlined a philosophy of nonviolent resistance and a call for economic and social equality. Compared to Malcolm X's "Ballot or the Bullet" and the ideas shown in Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton's "Black Power", which represented self-determination, …show more content…

Hamer also points out the hypocrisy in the United States as she states, "Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where we have to sleep with our telephones off of the hooks because our lives are threatened daily, because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?" Testimony Before the Credentials Committee. In this question, Hamer points out the hypocrisy of a nation that prides itself on freedom, yet denies basic human rights and safety to its African American citizens. In his speech "The Ballot or the Bullet," Malcolm X presented a vision of freedom that emphasized self-determination, racial pride, and economic empowerment for African Americans. His approach was also different from the nonviolent strategies favored by other civil rights leaders, advocating instead for a form of radical self-reliance that could, if necessary, include armed self-defense. Malcolm X stressed the importance of understanding one's rights and using the ballot as a tool to enforce these rights, but he also didn't rule out the bullet if justice and equality continued to be

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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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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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Malcolm X and his ideals are arguably a representation of the transition from the early 1950 's non-violent movement for integration to a more aggressive black power movement. Evidence of this is shown through powerful strands of his novel “The Ballot or the Bullet” including when he writes, “I don 't mean go out and get violent, but at the same time you should never be non-violent unless you run into some non-violence.” (Malcolm 439). In writing that members of the civil rights movement should never be non-violent he does so facetiously. This excerpt indicates a call for violence as a more powerful method for achieving the equality he feels they deserve.

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