Rhetorical Analysis Of 'The Ballot Or The Bullet' By Malcolm X

In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. During his campaign he had promised to lead the country down the right path with the civil rights movement. This campaign promise had brought hope to many African-Americans throughout the nation. Ever since Lincoln, African-Americans have tended to side with the democrats and this election was no different. The Kennedy administration had noticed that the key to the presidency was partially the civil rights issue. While many citizens were on Kennedy’s side, he had his share of opposition. Malcolm X differed on the view of the President and observed that the civil rights movement wasn’t happening at the speed Kennedy had pledged. Malcolm X possessed other reasons for his

Malcolm X’s “The Ballot of the Bullet” opened the eyes to many African Americans on the political parties and the treatment towards minority voters in the past. “This is the year when all of the white politicians are going to come into the Negro community. You never see them until election time. You can’t find them until election time. They’re going to come in with false promises, and as they make these false promises they're going to feed our frustrations and this will only serve to make matters worse.”X, Malcolm. "The Ballot or the Bullet." 03, April, 1964. What Malcolm X was saying in this line right here I believe is true most political parties only seem to care about the community when there

The first device that Malcolm x uses to make his claim that “blacks need to exercise their voting right in either a peaceful or violent manner”, is by using emotional appeals. One example of this is when he states “The year when all of the white political crooks will be right back in your and my community with their false promises, building up our hopes for a letdown, with their trickery and their treachery, with their false promises

April 3, 1964, Malcolm X gives his well renowned speech; The Ballot or the Bullet in Cleveland Ohio. His purpose behind the speech is to encourage African-Americans of the United States to stand up to the unfair treatment that he believes they receive. Throughout the speech, Malcolm X creates an ambition in the audience, encouraging change through the numerous uses of ethos, logos, and pathos. Malcolm X uses his personal experiences to show the audience that he has experienced the same negativity that they do everyday. X suggests everyone should be treated equally; religion, gender and race aside. His audience was made up of a majority of African-Americans, he uses the common ground of wanting to achieve equal treatment to show his audience he is on the same side as them. Through the organization of the speech, it is rhetorically effective. He practices the phrase “The Ballot or the Bullet” which uses repetition, forcing listeners to remember the phrase which later becomes more effective. X begins using ethos by introducing himself, immediately gaining the attention of the audience as well as respect of the audience. X then makes the current problem in the African-American community extremely clear to the audience, this is his use of pathos, where he engages them in his thought process and bringing them in using emotion. The speech uses rhetoric to emotionally and logically

Throughout history there are many great people who dedicated their life to the advancement of the African American race. Few of these people created as much controversy during the 1960’s then the man who would be known as Malcolm X. Unlike many of the civil rights leaders of the time who promoted non violence, Malcolm X believed in the use of aggressive tactics in his battle for equality.

In Malcolm X’s speech,“The Ballot or The Bullet” Malcolm brilliantly utilized the usage of several rhetorical strategies, ethos, logos, and pathos that are vital in successfully influencing critics of his philosophical views on civil disobedience and how there will be change is some kind of form. Mr. X usage of ethos is this speech convinces his audience that he is trustworthy because of the actions he has taken and the way he acts. “I’m nonviolent with those who are nonviolent with me. But when you drop that violence on me, then you made me go insane, and I’m not responsible for what I do . And that is the way every Negro should get.

Throughout his life Malcolm X faced oppression from white people. From having his family’s house burned by the KKK, to having his father killed by a white supremacy group and leaving his mother destroyed, Malcolm had a deep sense of hatred towards white people in America. This resulted in Malcolm developing this philosophy that black people should in no way accept the help of white people. While he was in prison learning about the nation of Islam, his views on “white” America grew strong. Leading to his advocacy to Pan-Africanism. Malcolm shares in the book, “that freedom, independence and self-respect could never be achieved by the Negro in America, and that therefore the Negro should leave America to the white man and return to his African land of origin.” He simply believed that unless black people create a black nation, blacks in America could never be economically stable due to the discrimination they will continuously face. Later on in the book, he contradicts himself after his trip to Mecca and changes his views. Neglecting his past belief of Pan-Africanism, Malcolm came to the realization that blacks in America could be successful with the participation of whites fighting alongside them for equal rights. This came to be as a result of Malcolm witnessing race problems from different perspective around the

Malcolm X, an African American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam, was a significant individual in the African American fight for justice and equality. In contrast to the mainstream Civil Rights Movement with its nonviolent pursuit of integration, Malcolm X voiced concepts of race pride and Black Nationalism during the 1950s and '60s. Although many argue that Malcolm X did not actually “do” anything for the black community, his nontraditional programs brought a new perspective to the Civil Rights Movement, and this perspective is of relevance today in the black community.

Since the creation of the United States of America there has constantly been a problem with civil rights. Even though African Americans fought for their freedom and rights, they are still facing similar obstacles that they were in the past. There are no real great leaders of the civil rights movement today but in the peak of the civil rights era there were two frontman that advocated for African American rights. One was Martin Luther King Jr., and the other was Malcolm. Martin Luther King Jr’s approach was very different from Malcolm X’s because he used peaceful uprising, while Malcolm X was examined as more assertive. In response to Martin Luther King Jr’s “ I Have A Dream” speech, Malcolm X delivered a speech called “ The Ballot or the Bullet”. In this speech Malcolm is trying to explain the reasons black people needed to stand against the American government. In “ The Ballot or the Bullet” Malcolm X uses the rhetorical terms of ethos, logos and pathos to persuade his listeners and readers.

Malcolm X was one of the primary religious leaders and reformers of the 1960, where he fought for and ultimately gave his life for racial equality in the United States. His father was a reverend who believed in self-determination and worked for the unity of black people. Throughout Malcolm’s life he was treated horribly by white people, hence shaping his misconceptions of all white people and developing his strong belief in black separatism. It wasn’t until years later where he embraced his black identity and discovered all races could live and work together for a common goal, brotherhood.

In New York City on March 22 1964, Malcolm X delivered his speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet.” Malcolm X, a minister of the Nation of Islam and revolutionary advocator of nationalism in the black community, imparted this speech with the intent to reach the black population in a time of change. The adept use of ethos, pathos, and logos to build and maintain a compelling argument, brings about a call to action and firmly conveys his ideas within the black population. Within ethos, pathos, and logos, the implication of elevated language, loaded words, and logical statements, attains a sense of credibility, assurance, and cogency.

Rhetorical Analysis of Artifact: The Ballot or the Bullet Speech Given by Malcolm X I. Introduction: Though almost half a century has passed, the Civil Rights Movement remains one freshly imprinted in not only the history books of US schools but also in the minds of countless Americans. Albeit, American society has come quite a ways in the acceptance of the individual - regardless of sex, age, creed or ethnicity - prejudices of different sorts are still to be found throughout every one of the united states of America. The Civil Rights Movement fought to overcome the racial inequalities inherent and ingrained in the minds of America's citizens and the government which they oversaw; it was

Malcolm X’s extreme views and takes on the solutions to racism were seen increasingly in the civil rights movement. If not for his assassination, he would have become a major competitor to Martin King’s way of protest. Although many negative actions were performed because of him, his influence was not all negative. He made the whites take him and his supporters seriously. If not for him, it is possible that King would not have been taken seriously either. He condemned the march on Washington - calling it, in his own autobiography, “the farce on Washington.” Because of Malcolm, hundreds, if not thousands of blacks did not march that day. Even though today many consider that a bad thing, he thought that the march demeaned and unempowered people of African-American descent.

The history of the world has had its encounters with separation and segregation when it comes to race. For a long time the world has seen racism as a large problem and this has caused ethnic groups to be looked down upon or forced into a lifestyle of difficulties and suppression. Due to this situation, races, in particularly African Americans, have been forced to deal with unequal opportunity and poverty, leading to less honorable ways of getting by and also organizations and support change. Malcolm X is an example of an African American man who fell into this type of hate and acted against it. Malcolm X united people to promote the advancement of African Americans and change when it comes to his own race.

On April 3, 1964, human rights activist and Muslim minister, Malcolm X, delivered his most famous speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” to a predominantly black audience during a meeting at the Cory Methodist Church sponsored by the Cleveland Chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In the speech, Malcolm X implores African Americans of all faiths to stand up for themselves and fight against the political oppression, economic exploitation, and social degradation of African Americans at the hands of the white man. The speech was given shortly after Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam, an African American political and religious movement, for which he had been the spokesman, and declared his willingness to cooperate with the Civil Rights Movement. Accordingly, he wanted to distance himself from the Nation of Islam, who critics have described as black supremacist and anti-Semitic, and expand his audience to include non-Muslim African Americans and moderates who viewed the Nation of Islam as too radical. Malcolm X begins his speech by successfully employing emotional appeals; he establishes common ground with his audience by discussing the collective experience of African Americans of all faiths in an oppressive, white America which invokes their anger and frustrations. Next, he builds his credibility, using numbers and federal law to expose the “political con-game” being played by the Democratic Party, with African Americans as its victims, and encourage blacks to uses