Similarities Between Martin Luther King Jr And Malcolm X

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Have you ever thought about where a lot of the civil rights for various communities came from? The conflict relating to civil rights went on for a rather long time; despite how long this has been up in the air, arguably, Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. They both were and still are renowned for different reasons, sure they are both known for trying to go after independence and equality amongst races however, they both went about it in vastly different ways. What better way to see how they were the same and how they were different than looking at exerts from both of their speeches? Take Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom by Martin Luther King Jr and Evolution of a Revolutionary by Malcolm X, these two speeches provide a great look into …show more content…

After all, if you were to see your community in such disarray, hardly able to provide for itself, you would want to get it to near the same standing as the other communities, the communities that are borderline thriving, right? With that in mind here is what Martin Luther King Jr had to say about the problem of economical struggles: "Operation Breadbasket have increased the income of the Negro community by more than two million dollars annually...". Whereas Malcolm X mentioned in his speech, "(W)e have to learn how to own and operate the businesses of our community and develop them into some type of industry that will enable us to create employment for the people of our community" So despite their different visions, they both suck out the same core goal: …show more content…

Who could blame them? They were in a time when things were already hard for many and their community was still in various states of segregation making it even more challenging for their community. Of course, as most people know, Martin Luther King Jr wanted to obtain his goal through marches and boycotts; whereas, Malcolm X was trying to obtain his goal through the means of re-creating his community to be entirely independent through the formation of new jobs and businesses being run by local black people. Martin Luther King Jr proves his stance by stating, "this is nonviolence at its peak of power, when it cuts into the profit margin of a business in order to bring about a more just distribution of jobs and opportunities for Negro wage earners and consumers." this helps show his goal by explaining how he wished to gain his goal (boycotts) and how it is effective (cutting into the monetary gain of companies down by a significant margin). On the other hand, Malcolm X proves his stance by saying, "so the economic philosophy of black nationalism puts the burden upon the black man of learning how to control his own economy." this helps us understand that he wants the black community to create their own economic freedom through creating their own businesses and providing jobs to other local people, basically creating an economic loop where more money stays in the