Malcolm X and Black Nationalism in the Black Freedom, Civil Rights Era - Report Example

Malcolm X and Black Nationalism in the Black freedom/Civil Rights Era Introduction In the 18th and 19th Centuries, slave trade was prominent and Africans were transported forcefully to the United States to work as slaves for the whites. The white’s brain washed Africans and made them to believe that they were less human being than the whites. The black Africans worked to boost the economic status of the United States and improve the living standards of the white people. As if not enough, the white exploited natural resource in the African state to maximize their economy. They were put to work in companies both women and men under very bad working conditions without payment (Jong, 2). Later in 1808, international slave trade was made illegal, but then slave trading still went on internally and the population of slaves was approximately four million before it was terminated. They could not trace their way back to the African land and settled in the United States as the Black Americans. The black were discriminated against, they did not have equal rights with the white. They were not allowed to share social amenities with the whites neither would they have any leadership position in the whites states. They were viewed illiterate and less of a human being and worse of all they were made to believe that it was true (the African Americans believed that the whites were better than them in all aspects) (Jong, 5). Malcolm X and Martin Luther Junior were one of the leaders who struggled to change the Black situation in the United States in the 1960s a movement known as ‘Black Nationalism’ and civil rights respectively. Malcolm X was of African ancestor’s origin. He witnesses the Africans suffering in the hands of the whites and realizes that it was important to step forward to fight for the Blacks freedom. Malcolm’s family had gone through hard past life in the hands of whites making him bitter and determined to fight for the black’s freedom. His family house was burned by the Ku Klux Klan, his father was murdered, his mother then became mentally ill and was institutionalized, Malcolm was sent to a foster home as well as his siblings and the family was divided. This made him so bitter with racial injustices this could be justified when he changed his last name to ‘X’ to signify his rejection of his slave name and stepped forward to fight for the black freedom. He was ready to achieve this desire violently. Martin Luther King Jr was one of the twentieth century’s leaders who advocated for nonviolent social change. Martin did not have a bitter past as compared to Malcolm, he was civil right leader while Malcolm was radical he wanted the black separated from the whites in all aspects, but importantly they both fought for the rights of the oppressed people under different perspectives. Martin organized and established nonviolent protests and mass demonstrations to draw attention to racial discrimination and to demand civil rights legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans (Jong, 30) this made him to gain ground is movement and mobilize more people to his support after which he delivered a speech ‘I have a dream’, which enacted the movement into civil right act in 1964. Some of the factors that facilitated Martin success were his speech with references with scriptures, and use of harmonious words that made him win a lot of people’s trust. Martin King organized southern Christian leadership conference to give him platform to concur the south in his campaign. He moved in all parts of the world with civil right and religious leaders sensitizing people on racism creating awareness. King perception was nonviolent protest as the best weapon to fight for freedom for the oppression. Malcolm on the other hand was a human right activist who advocated for the rights of the black people in America. He was accused of preaching racism and violence. He advocated for the separation of black and whites and mocked civil right movement emphasis on integration. He founded organization of Afro-American unity, emphasized on pan-Africanism where he talked about black self-determination and black self-defense. Malcolm had a violent perspective of achieving his desire of the black having rights. This could be evident his advocacy where he taught the nation that the blacks were the original people of the world, that white people are devils, that blacks were superior to whites and that the demise of the white race was imminent. The civil right movement fought to end racial segregation as a way bringing equality between the whites and black. On the other hand Malcolm and the movement argued that separation of the whites and blacks would eliminate the back oppression by the whites. Malcolm was to the idea that a separate African-American state should be established to end their interaction. He disagreed with the civil rights nonviolence perception and that the black were tired of waiting for freedom, justice and equality. His approach of situation made him to get support of mostly African American in North and Western cities. He kept in close contact with the African states where he frequently visited and got support of some of the prominent leaders he gave talks and speeches in Radios and Television in these African countries. X strategy of addressing racial discrimination was violent as compared Martin’s strategy. It was likely to create hate between the whites and blacks leading to wars. Africans were most likely to suffer in case of conflict because whites were the majority in power, the owned the military and therefore in better position to eliminate Africans. Malcolm strategy would only lead to negative peace and not peace resolution. I would not accepted X Invitation to work with his movement because of the following reasons; Poor leadership-he did not lead by example of creating peace, he used hate speech in public, he did not interact by both white and black to identify the root cause of racism and discussed possible solution instead worked towards turning Africans against the whites. The movement was not working towards solving the problem and peace restoration. Conclusion Africans were enslaved by the whites but changing the relationship between the two racial needs more that focusing on the past. Malcolm strategy of ending the black oppression can be attributed to his bitter past due to slavery but does not justify his approach to end racism. His approach was likely to create negative peace between interdependent races. Change is gradual and peace resolution and peace building between the whites and black calls for interaction, identification of root cause of racism and coming up with a mutual strategy of solution. Changing the mentality of the whites to perceive the blacks as equally important and establishing policies to embrace equality should be enforced to end racism. Work Cited De, Jong G. Invisible Enemy: The African American Freedom Struggle after 1965. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print. Read More