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

“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.

Many people have heard the famous “I have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr., but do you know about Malcolm X? “Freedom comes to us either by ballot, or by bullet.”(X 12), a line from “What does Mississippi have to do with Harlem” by Malcolm X. In his speech he talks about the many problems going on during the early 1950’s to the late 1960’s. Malcolm X’s speech used language the best to inspire and motivate people to take a stand against segregation, throughout his speech he uses many different types of figurative languages to get his message across to people.

Malcolm X shows nothing but pure fanaticism throughout his speech and encourages the listeners to make a changes. This intensity and passion makes his overall point stronger. He addresses multiple topics such as voting rights, civil rights, and social inequality and voices his opinions in a more aggressive way than other activists, making him more unique and stand out from the

Malcolm X responds to this claim and shifts the narrative to explain his views, by stating “I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution... If it must take violence to get a black man his human rights in this country, I’m for violence.” Malcolm X states that he isn’t promoting senseless acts of violence. He only advocates for violence if it is absolutely necessary. By suggesting that the media’s claims about him are false, the audience can infer that X’s views on violence are actually more reasonable.

He says, “The white man is the devil” (Malcolm X, 4). By saying this he shows once again how bad white people actually are. By using these three rhetorical method, he shows how important freedom is to

Early in his speech, Malcolm X makes his African American audience feel ashamed about their blind complicity in their own mistreatment by America’s political system. He asserts that “the Democrats have got the government sewed up, and you’re [African Americans] the one who sewed it up form them. And what have they given you for it? Four years in office, and just now getting around to some civil-rights legislation” (X 27). Here, he is attempting to make these lower class voters feel foolish about their support for democratic politicians like John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Malcolm X’s implication is that the democrats garnered African American votes through manipulation and ignored the needs and desires of that group once elected. He wants African Americans to feel ashamed of being used as pawns. He further criticizes Comment [LS4]: Sentence that reminds the reader that this paragraph continues to discuss shame and MLK Comment [LS5]: Malcolm X Sub Topic Sentence Topic Sentence4 the Johnson administration. He argues that Johnson is in “cahoots” with “his buddy” Richard Russell, a staunch adversary to civil rights legislation (X 27). He also argues that they are running a “con game” and “playing with” African American voters (X 27). The words “cahoots” and “con game” are both words associated with criminality (Malcolm X 27). Therefore, he posits these politicians as criminals, and he casts his audience as foolish people who inadvertently aid criminals. Moreover, the notion that the African American electorate is being played also indicates a lack of sophistication and gullibility in that group. These are both qualities for which, he implies, they should be

In the beginning of his speech he states “ The question tonight ,as I understand it ,is “The Negro Revolt,and Where Do We Go From Here? or What Next?”(Paragraph 1)Here he starts off his speech “The Ballot or the bullet” by asking the audience these question of “what's Next?” The Purpose is from the start to get the audience think so that later they can no what to do and move on from there. Next he states “How can you thanks a man for giving you what's already yours?” (Paragraph 23) Here the audience are to believe that they accomplished something because they were given rights by the man , the man being the white man. By using rhetorical questions he wants the audience to know that in reality they did not accomplish anything, since those rights are something that should already be given by birth. In the the end this shows how Malcolm X use rhetorical questions in order to get the audience spread awareness in what the audience should be thinking about and also on how they in reality did not accomplish

In 1963 John F. Kennedy proposed the civil rights bill to ban discrimination against a person’s race, religion, sex, and nationality in public spaces and for job. This bill was blocked by the Southern Democrats, also called the Dixiecrats, providing the context for Malcolm X’s speech given April 3, 1964. Malcolm X begins by clarifying that he is not speaking about his personal religious beliefs, but instead speaking to all blacks to join him in Black Nationalism in defense of their culture, their rights, and their freedom. The unjust treatment from the government in withholding blacks’ freedom, as well as the white man’s exploitation of the uneducated blacks are reasons enough to revolt and assert change. Malcolm directs the responsibility of change onto every black to educate themselves in business and politics in order to build up their poverty-stricken communities.

The speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” given by Malcom X, illustrates his argument on the civil-rights and the different race’s right to vote. The author accomplishes his objective with the help of the rhetorical devices such as ethos, repetition, and metaphor. Throughout his speech, he uses important rhetorical devices, such as ethos, to further his argument. Malcom X quotes, “So, I’m not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter,no, not I.I’m speaking as a victim of this American system” (Page 2 Para 8).

In the speech, Malcolm X talks a lot about the government letting down the black man. He even goes as far to say the government has a conspiracy against them. He goes on to say “the government failed us”. He says “white liberals have posed as your friends”. He talks about being ,trapped, double trapped and triple trapped,. He seems to use a lot of strong language to appeal to the emotions, an excellent example of pathos. I feel like he is trying to scare them into taking some kind of action Some of the issues he discusses in his speech don't really have much to do with voting. It feels like there's a lot of anger against the white men. He mentions the march in Washington D.C. didn’t really accomplish anything. It was only a march around dead man's monuments. He said that singing didn’t get them anywhere.

The speech is focuses on the degradation of black people and a means to integrating blacks into voting while reclaiming their communities and lives. Malcolm X’s Ballot or the Bullet speech advances to the progression of the African American community due to its use of unifying statements and antagonistic challenges. Instead of trying to make any allures towards the white population, Malcolm X criticizes them. Throughout the speech he focuses on the complete segregation of whites and blacks rather than trying to integrate them into one another’s community. He strongly believed that the black population had to break the psychological, and political enslavement on their oppressors. Malcolm X attacks the inclination of African-Americans who keep trying to classify with White America when they should actual try to be identifying with their ancestors. The purpose of him doing this was to inculcate a feeling of self-help in his peers.

    Imagine living in world where life revolved around anger, hatred and segregation. Picture someone of a different race receiving hard earned money that didn't belong to them. All based off of the pigment of there skin. In Malcolm X “Ballot of the Bullet” speech he speaks about three major topics, that the black community being politically mature and to not be deceived into supporting someone politically who doesn't have the community at heart. (pathos) He also explains to the Black community that they have been mislead and misguided and that they the African American community is making the white man richer as they become poorer and poorer (Logos) and lastly he relates religion to being black, due to the fact that when going out in public, the  black community have to act “unnoticed” just like when stepping into the public there's one thing people don't want to be noticed and that's Religion for anyone will be judged upon that (Ethos). All in all Malcolm X uses his uplifting words to inspire the black community to vote for the right person in house and with doing so he uses Ethos, Logos, and Pathos to convince the African American community to not only vote for someone who has the good of heart but has been and stood in a situation from which an African American would go through throughout this time period.

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

As one of the most proficient civil rights activist of the 1960's, Malcolm X and his speeches were very influential but particularly one speech was highly esteemed, that being the Ballot or the Bullet speech. A speech that was given after the "I have A Dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King. Despite, Dr. Martin Luther King being a pacifist and also a civil rights activist as well; Malcolm X was more tyrannical and advocated the use of violence. During this era, the democrats were in control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, therefore both the Senate and the House of Representatives were leaning towards providing more civil rights to African-Americans. The purpose of Malcolm X’s speech was to convince African Americans to

Malcolm X delivered “The Ballot or the Bullet,” one of the most inspiring and empowering speeches to ever be spoken on American soil, on April 3, 1964. Two thousand people, including his friends as well as his enemies, came to watch the black civil rights activist speak about black nationalism during the election year. He stressed individual uplift, moral reform, and entrepreneurship. He used this speech as a call to action. He wanted to inspire every member of the black population to be their own person.