Malcolm X Speech Rhetorical Analysis

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

“We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary.” This famous quote was spoken by African-American Muslim and human rights activist Malcolm X in June of 1964. At this period of time America was going through the era of segregation and the civil rights movement so leaders like Malcolm X wished to bring blacks together to form strong organizations for change. Throughout the speech Malcolm attempts to engage his listeners to his ideas and explain the creation of an organization to increase Black Nationalism.

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

- [ ] The focus of this speech will be to look in to the pros and cons of X and as well to have a better overview of his thought process. We will examine some of the many doctrines of Malcolm X- which where his “common enemy” theory, idea of can one go against their own race for the greater good of another race. We will as look in to the party that he played in the Black Panther Party .In the end we look at both sides of his argument in the best way possible.

Malcolm X’s use of parallelism as a rhetorical strategy helps support his purpose of unifying people of colour against a common enemy by relating the civil rights movement to other revolutions in which people unified against oppressive powers. The first use of parallelism in order to create consistency with past actions is when Malcolm X states, “Some of them were Buddhist. Some of them were Muslim… Some were capitalists” (1). This use of parallelism to state the many differences between the attendees (all of whom were people of colour) of the Bandung conference is used to display to the audience that in the past, non-whites have worked alongside one another against white men successfully. Thus, through consistency with past actions, civil

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.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley is an account of Malcolm X’s evolving perspective on racial justice. Malcolm X was a prominent figure in the Nation of Islam who advocated for black nationalism and separatism. The man who became one of America’s most powerful voices for African Americans was deeply affected by the terrors of racism, which shaped his view of social justice and the condemnation of the white man. The way Malcolm X narrates his experiences changes as his views on race change. At first, he wants readers to feel the destructiveness of racism, so he conveys his experiences through provocative language. When he aims to promote universal peace, he takes on a more optimistic tone. As a

The history of the United States has in it much separation or segregation due to race. For a long time our country has seen racism as a large problem and this has caused ethnic groups to be looked down upon and forced into a lifestyle of difficulties and suppression. Due to this, races, particularly African-Americans, have been forced to deal with unequal opportunity and poverty, leading to less honorable ways of getting by and also organizations that support change. Malcolm X is one strong example of an African American man who became apart of a group acted against it, uniting people to promote the advancement of colored people and change. Malcolm's thoughts towards race and civil right in the previous years were displayed in a less

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).

To begin, Malcolm X’s speech detailing his his political views on black nationalism, the hypocrisy of the United States, as well as the radical steps needed to be taken by the black community to achieve equal rights, is laden with elevated language in order to create an ethical appeal to the audience. For example, Malcolm X states that “The political philosophy of black nationalism only means that the black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community” (par 2). The use of the elevated language, such as “philosophy” and “nationalism”, sophisticates the speech altogether, which successfully reflects the professional tone used by Malcolm X, as well as the seriousness of the matter; which, in turn, strengthens the overall argument being made. Moreover, through Malcolm X’s sophistication of language, and thus the speech, it

(Malcolm X, 35-67) While other countries faced similar oppression, they were able to make a change even though their country does not have the freedom that America has. With America being the home of the free and the land of the brave it does not apply to everyone, especially minority groups. Malcolm also expresses how not all black groups get along, but those petty differences should be overlooked and all of them should ban together and fight the bigger issue which is the white man. " That's my closing message to Elijah Muhammad: If he is the leader of the Muslims and the leader of our people, then lead us against our enemies, don't lead us against each other." ( Malcolm X,

“I'm a Black Nationalist freedom fighter.” In “The Ballot or the Bullet (April 12, 1964), Malcom X, a Muslim and civil rights advocate, argues that the black community should take charge and come together as one. Malcom X supports his claim by calling out black community for not being proactive and being complaint with the community they are living in. Malcom X’s purpose is to bring the black population together. Malcom X is informing a crowd of African Americans about how they need to become knowledgeable in politics so they can elect officers that will only benefit the black community. In Malcom X’s speech, he uses tone in order to persuade a variety of listeners that the black population is disregarded, to stress the importance of

The 1960's civil rights movement was a period when acts of violence were being committed against African Americans and those who supported civil rights. Malcolm X was a radical civil rights leader and well known spokesmen who had a very different interpretation of how things should be handled. His tactics, although controversial, motivated millions to fight for their rights. The Ballot or the Bullet, is directed at African Americans and encourages them to stand up for their rights and vote. Malcolm X uses rhetoric early on in an attempt to unite all African Americans. Throughout his speech, Malcolm X's use of ethos, pathos, and logos is obvious and useful in

He used comparisons and repetition in order to convince the African Americans to support and rally with him. Malcolm X compared his audience to slaves by claiming that “second class citizenship is nothing but 20th century slavery … they don’t have second class citizenship in any other government on this earth. They just have slaves and people who are free. Well, this country is a hypocrite. They try and make you think they set you free by calling you a second-class citizen. No, you’re nothing but a 20th century slave” (Malcolm X). He evoked emotions and pondering from the audience by making them question if they are even true citizens or if they are just slaves who haven’t made any progress in their society at all. Malcolm also used repetition throughout his speech to make a point. The word repeated most often is “rights,” although he also used words such as “community,” “struggle,” “friend,” and even “gospel” at least ten times in his speech. He used words like this an extraordinary amount in order to convince the audience he is right. He proved to them that what they are going through was a “struggle,” they needed to unite as a “community,” and the white man was not a “friend” but their race was friendly towards each other (Malcolm X). Malcolm X’s speech as a whole covered an extremely emotional and thought-provoking subject; pathos was present at every point in his speech because the cause he was fighting for was very