preview

Comparison Of Malcolm X

Decent Essays

On the other hand, Malcolm X had a different approach in providing African Americans equality. Malcolm X believed anything must be done to provide equality for African Americans. For Malcolm, anything would also be violence, unlike Dr. King who favored on non-violence ways to achieve equality. During 1950’s and early 1960’s Malcolm became a speaker for the Nation of Islam. Malcolm created newspapers and organized several temples to get his message out. For Malcolm, whites were devils because they oppressed blacks. Malcolm was one of the leaders that motivated racial dignity, black power, and economic opportunities for blacks. As the lines in PBS states "Brothers and sisters, the white man has brainwashed us black people to fasten our gaze on a blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus! We're worshipping a Jesus that doesn't even look like us! ... The white man has taught us to shout and sing and pray until we die…” it explains that Christianity is not a religion that Black people can follow. He felt that Christianity is a religion followed by Whites and we as African Americans cannot follow this religion. Also, Malcolm believed that nonviolence was a realistic concept as he states, "I don't favor violence. If we could bring about recognition and respect of our people by peaceful means, well and good. Everybody would like to reach his objectives peacefully. But I'm also a realist. The only people in this country who are asked to be nonviolent are black people” (PBS). In other words for him being violent is not needed but has become necessary. In these lines Malcolm believes that Whites are not peaceful and they continue to be violent and as a result African Americans are asked to be nonviolent.
Like, Martin Luther King. Malcolm X delivered a speech known as “Message to the Grassroots” on November 10th 1963 in Detroit. This speech clearly reflects the differences in viewpoints that these two men carried and how they believed in different ways of bringing equality for blacks. Malcolm believed that there could not be a revolution without violence because that is the only way whites would understand. As stated by Malcolm X, in his speech, “To understand this, you have to go back to what [the] young brother here referred to as

Get Access