Malcolm X

In school we learn much about the civil rights movement, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of the major leaders. For me, Malcolm X is a man who has only briefly been touched on as a leader who decided to take the violent approach during this time period. Although I didn't find all of the things he did the proper way of handling things, in his speech The Ballot or the Bullet, he says a few things that I agree with very much.

To begin with, Malcolm X says, "The same government that you go abroad to fight for and die for is the government that is in a conspiracy to deprive you of your voting rights, deprive you of your economic opportunities, deprive you of your decent housing, deprive you of decent education." I also find that unjust, but sadly true, as you look back at the time period, and even today. Black soldiers fight and die for America, the same America that has been depriving them of their rights for so long. "You don't need to go to the employer alone, it is the government itself, the government of America, that is responsible of the oppression and exploitation and degradation of black people in this country." Another topic Malcolm X touches on in his speech is how America is only a rich nation, and became so quick, because of slavery and black oppression. "Your and my mother and father, who didn't work an eight-hour shift, but worked from "can't see" in the morning until "can't see" at night, and worked for nothing, making the white man rich, making Uncle Sam rich." Once this fact is brought to your attention, you can see that it is true, and America is a country built on the hard, no pay work of our slaves, not a group of free white men. "Uncle Sam's hands are dripping with blood, dripping with the blood of the black man in this country."

When looking at things in this prospective it is easier for one to see why Malcolm X and his young supporters who were sick of how long it was taking for things to change, becoming impatient with Martin Luther King Jr.'s approach. Malcolm X said that he was "nonviolent with those who were nonviolent with me," and with that as his approach, I believe history is doing him wrong in not glorifying him as much as the peaceful Dr. King.