Malcolm X's Speech 'Ballot Or The Bullet'

    In “The letter from Birmingham City Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. and “The Ballot or the Bullet” by Malcolm X both authors discuss injustice during the Civil Rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. got put in Birmingham city jail and made a letter to Fellow Clergymen. Telling fellow Clergymen that there were fighting for their Civil Rights with nonviolence. And examples of how people were being treated and promises were being broken.  Malcolm X Speech took place in Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland Ohio in 1964 on April 3rd. During Malcolm X’s speech he told his followers that he wanted them to realize what they have done for the country and haven't gotten nothing back. And that he need to use violence he's going to use violence if whites keep on taking degrading them. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed nonviolence was the key in order to gain justice and their Civil Rights the deserved because the didn't want whites thinking wrong about them. While Malcolm X believed in violence because he has seen blacks being oppress after all they have have done for the country.

In 1964, Malcolm X gave a speech entitled “The Ballot or the Bullet” which described how African Americans should fight for civil-rights in America. Malcolm X emphasizes the importance of voting as a solution to ending discrimination against African Americans. He addresses both the poor voting decisions and also the denial of legitimate voting rights to African Americans. Because elections had been so narrowly decided in recent elections, the Black vote is the deciding factor in elections. Whites also have prevented African Americans in the electoral process. Malcolm X says that either "the ballot or the bullet" will come next in the civil rights struggle. This meant that government must allow African Americans to legitimately vote or

The audience does not have to answer these questions and neither does Malcolm X because they all know that they have nothing to be thankful for (Malcolm X). After, Malcolm X continues to repeat, “It’ll be ballots or it’ll be bullets. It’ll be liberty or it will be death.” He uses the either or fallacy again because he wants to make the audience believe that they truly only have 2 choices, voting for the right politicians or resorting to violence to get what they want (Malcolm X). Malcolm X then tells the audience, “Our mothers and fathers invested sweat and blood. Three hundred and ten years we worked in this country without a dime in return. You let the white man walk around here talking about how rich the country is, but you never stop to think how it got rich so quick. It got rich because you made it rich.” In these lines, he uses pathos and logos. He appeals to logic by bringing up facts about slavery in America, like how it lasted for three hundred and ten years. He appeals to emotion by reminding the audience how much Africans have suffered because of the white man (Malcolm X). Towards the end of his speech, Malcolm X says, “And this time they’re not going like they went last year. They’re not going singing “we shall overcome.” They’re not going with white friends. They’re not going with placards already painted for them. They’re not going with round-trip

Is history repeating itself or has nothing really changed to begin with? In Malcolm X’s speech “The Ballot or the Bullet,” he makes a number of arguments discussing the racial inequalities in America. X’s speech is primarily centered around pushing African Americans to take advantage of their right to vote. He stresses the importance of black nationalism and building unity within African American communities. He also stated in his speech that in order to see change, African Americas must take a more aggressive approach to end oppression. Civil rights leaders like Malcom X have fought long and hard to end racial injustice in America, “The Ballot or the Bullet” was an essential part of the civil rights movement and opened many people’s eyes to

The two most influential civil rights activists in American history were Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. They supported equal rights for every race, but when comparing MLK’s “I Have a Dream’ and Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet,” one sees the similarities in their rhetorical styles and differences in their tone and message. As seen in “I Have a Dream,” MLK has a more civilized and peaceful solution to the nation’s problems; whereas in X’s he has a will to do whatever it may take to solve the problems.

Powerful movements require powerful leadership. During the 1960s a push for civil rights developed, and African Americans took various positions. Two strong leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X approached the Civil Rights Movement using different methods. Their speeches reflect the disposition of their tactics. In his speech, “I Have a Dream,” Martin Luther King, Jr. focuses on applying his non-violent philosophy. On the contrary, Malcolm X projects himself in an aggressive tone reflecting the attitudes of Black Nationalists in “Ballot or the Bullet.” These speakers demonstrate their objectives and tone through their use of diction and syntax.

One example of X’s use of ethical appeals is when he states, “I myself am a minister, not a christian minister, but a muslim minister; and I believe in action on all fronts by whatever means necessary.”(Paragraph 2) Malcolm X is a saying to use whatever force is necessary while fighting for freedom. Christian ministers have been fighting for black civil rights, X is a muslim minister that’s fighting for civil-rights. Malcolm x makes the audience realize that No matter what religion or even ethnicity, they need to do whatever it takes to get their rights. Another example of X’s use of ethical appeals is when he says “Let the world know how bloody his hands are, let the world know the hypocrisy that’s practiced over here. Let it be the ballot or the bullet, Let him know that it must be the ballot or the bullet.”(Paragraph 37) X wants the audience to know that the only way they can fight for their rights is either by political campaigns or violence. America’s ‘morals’ seem to be non-existent:They preach false freedom and practice Hypocrisy. Reflecting back to Franklin's “Give me liberty or give me death” , Malcolm x is basically saying the same thing when he says “The ballot or the bullet”. Malcolm x fears that if they don’t do anything now, they will never get anything out of it. A last example of X’s use of ethical appeals is when he states “All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of a white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man.”(Paragraph 3) Malcolm X wants the audience to realize that whites have done nothing but oppress the blacks and that is wrong of them to do. X also wants to make clear that racism is wrong and blacks are humans too,so they deserve their

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

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 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

Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are notable activists during the civil rights movement in America. They were leaders highly credited by the public. They carried similar, and different views on how to take on oppression in America. “Nonviolence: The Only Road to Freedom” (1966) by Martin Luther King and “The Ballot or the Bullet” (1964) by Malcolm X had points were they agreed with one another, points of controversy were the did not see eye to eye, and points of disagreement about violence in the civil rights movement.

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

April 3, 1964 Malcolm X gave one of the most iconic speeches of all time. Malcolm gave this speech at the “Cory Methodist Church” where he spoke out about the politics of voting for African Americans. Malcolm X advised that African Americans should vote, however if prejudice continued and the government continued to prevent blacks from being completely equal that African Americans would have to use more violent tactics. This speech is great for a number of reasons and one of these reasons is Malcolm X’s use of rhetorical devices.

The 1960’s, in America, was a time of cultural and racial divide. This sentiment is no more evident than in Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech. In this speech, Malcolm X demanded that his audience should take action against their government leaders. He proposed that there were only two options to resolve this issue, the ballot or the bullet.