Baldwin and the Nation of Islam Essay

Muhammad would do this by any means possible. Though he practiced the faith of Islam he was very violent in his ways. He started his nation in Chicago by teaching people about the white devils and getting more and more people to convert to Muslims. As he increased his followers he began incorporating the teachings of Marcus Garvey and the back to Africa theory. Muhammad could not do this all on his own, and with the help of Malcom X, his chief disciple criminal turned righteous Muslim, they accomplished much. Malcom was a man who had recently been released from prison for robberies learned about the faith and the ideas and began to put all of his effort into converting his fellow Negroes. Malcom also took care of the “by any means necessary” part. He formed a group of violent blacks called the Black Panthers. The Panthers would target white supremacies and use violent force to get their message across. Muhammad was the leader of the group of Black Muslims who were Muslims but did not follow the rules. Muslims in general are very peaceful for example one of their beliefs is “WE BELIEVE that we who declare ourselves to be righteous Muslims, should not participate in wars which take the lives of humans. We do not believe this nation should force us to take part in such wars” (Muslim Program 2). This did not hold true with Elijah and Malcom.

Baldwin describes the whites as believing the blacks are inferior to them and that the white presumptions of black people have defined the place of blacks in society for many years. He states that “[his nephew was] born into a

The text continues with Baldwin warning his nephew about the struggle he is going to endure for just being born black and nothing else. Also telling him that he must survive for his children and his children’s children. He warns him, telling him that this country will set him up for failure and that they will try to control where he could go, what he could do, and how he could do it. He continues to articulate that he must stay true to himself because no matter how much he tries to resemble white people they will never accept him. He later states how corrupt the white mind is, for example, he says, “They are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it. They have had to believe for so many years, and for innumerable reasons, that black men are inferior to white men. Many of them, indeed, know better, as you will discover, people find it very difficult to act on what they

Baldwin determines that violence and racial separatism are not acceptable solutions for achieving “power”. Baldwin believes that black people will only be able to achieve lasting influence in America if they love and accept white people. In contrast, writing 52 years after Baldwin, Coats tells his own son to “struggle” but not

The first essay is about James Baldwin's personal perspective of being black in racist America. The second essay goes on to how religion and Christianity allowed the segregation and oppression of blacks to grow between both whites and blacks of the United States (Baldwin, 1963). Christianity in the United States can be easily be compared to the opiate of the masses. Religion controlled the lives of the whites and forced the blacks to live under the oppressive rule of the whites.

The Nation of Islam strongly disagreed and forbade its members and especially Malcolm X from taking part in the political scene (Litwack pg 7). Malcolm knew that if the black population continued to act as a separate community while also avoiding political action, they would never achieve equality. The Nation of Islam strongly disagreed and forbade its members and especially Malcolm X from taking part in the political scene (Litwack, pg 7).  These differing viewpoints and the growing jealousy of Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm’s mentor and leader of the Nation of Islam, were the fundamental reasons not only for him leaving the Nation of Islam but for the entire tone of  “the Ballot or the Bullet” speech (Haley, pg 1).

African Americans have to strive extremely hard to be successful and obtain a place in America. When reading Baldwin’s statement it seems much like Martin Luther King Jr. statement: “One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land”(3). African Americans are trying to obtain their place in American society but are restricted to the area that the white Americans set aside for them. Both Martin Luther King Jr. and James Baldwin are striving to make a difference to better America by publicly sharing their emotions.

Malcolm studied the teachings of the leader of the Black Muslims, Elijah Muhammad, who advocated an independent black state. The Nation of Islam was based on a theology adapted from several models: traditional Islamic teachings principles of Black Nationalism, and economic self-help programs that addressed the needs of African Americans living in urban ghettoes. Unlike traditional Islam, which rejects all forms of racism, the Nation of Islam declared that whites were the "devil by nature," and that God was black. However, the Black Muslims predicted that in the near future a Great War would take place in which whites would be destroyed and black people would rule the world through the benevolence of Allah, their creator. To prepare for this new order, the Nation of Islam stressed personal self-restraint, opposed the use of drugs and alcohol, and organized economic self-help enterprises that eventually included farms, food stores, restaurants, and small businesses.

Throughout most of the 1950’s and 60’s there was a strong push by Black Americans to end their unfair treatment in America. Two main groups during this time were working on this problem. The NAACP and the Nation of Islam were two main groups working on and poised to solve this very dilemma. Despite trying to solve the same crisis their ideas on a solution were very different. Since their views were varied, people in turn had different views on which group they would become associated with. This inspired many writers to publicly display their beliefs on the issue. In “Down at the Cross,” Baldwin displays favor toward the methodology of the NAACP in the Civil Rights Movement because of their beliefs in the American system. Even though

Baldwin continues on and says that blacks were being oppressed everywhere. “…Negro girls who set upon a white girl in the subway because…she was stepping on their toes. Indeed she was, all over the nation” (73). Not only does this portray the ever growing tension felt among African Americans in a certain area, it expresses the tension felt across the nation. African Americans everywhere were still continuously looked down upon, causing agitation, which was the current social condition blacks and whites faced.

Baldwin opens his argument acknowledging the distortion of segregation for the segregationists. According to Baldwin, people who, since birth, have been taught to think a certain way towards the African American race. “The white South African or Mississippi sharecropper or Alabama sheriff has at bottom a system of reality which compels them really to believe when they face the Negro that this

Before Mecca when Malcolm was still a part of The Nation of Islam he was taught the principles of racial hatred and separatism. Their beliefs were based on that the race known as “white” were to be considered as “ devils”. Malcolm quickly believed in their leader Elijah Muhammad and began to rise quickly through the ranks becoming a national celebrity. But, it was soon after this that Malcolm found out the truth about his leader. He found out that

He met the leader of the NOI, Elijah Muhammad in Chicago in 1952 and Malcolm soon began opening temples for the NOI in major cities. He went on to found the NOI’s newspaper, Muhammad Speaks, that he printed out of the basement of his home. Malcolm articulated the Nation’s doctrines of whites being inherently evil and blacks being naturally superior. Malcolm was quickly rising in rank and growing closer to Elijah Muhammad. Soon, he was second in command to Elijah with much more power over the NOI. Due to Malcolm, the NOI gained a large increase in membership and the influence of the group always exceeded its size. Malcolm was an ideal representative due to his public speaking skills and ability to represent the emotions of NOI members. Throughout his rise of power, Malcolm continued to criticize the mainstream Civil Rights Movement. He challenged Martin Luther King Jr’s notions of integration and nonviolence and argued that more was at stake than simply the right to sit in a restaurant or vote. He wrote in his book, “No sane black man really wants integration! No sane white man really wants integration!” (X, 250). He felt that the most important issues were black identity, integrity, and independence. He urged his followers to defend themselves by any means necessary and told critics, “I don't call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence,” (X). In his ideology, blacks could never

Rather than pushing both races to blur the line between whites and blacks, the religion seems to further distinguish this line. Baldwin gives a compelling reason for stating that Americans must separate themselves from Christianity in order to progress into a world where everyone can live free. The Christian religion keeps its members in a prison of blind faith. While the blacks lack freedom because of society's treatment of them, whites lack freedom in their blind following of the belief that they possess superiority over blacks because of skin color. Despite the initial comfort that religion wrapped around Baldwin, he saw its hypocrisy that ensnared the other members and continued the long chain of hate among Americans of every color. Americans’ interpretation of the message of Christianity may lead them to judge others, but Baldwin takes the true message of love and applies it to his plea to have hope. Baldwin states that he and believers like him will “force [their] brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and being to change it” (8). In opening their hearts to the Christian commandment to love one another and applying it to their actions, Americans will be able to save themselves from drowning in a flood of their judgments and bring peace to the

Muslims which rose in the 1960’s, its aim was to take on “the negro in