"A Call For Action": Literary Analysis Final Draft

The City College of New York

English 11000 Honors 

October of 2013

Omar Rafael

A Call For Action 

As 1965 approached, the Civil Rights Movement was slowly reaching its culmination. In their endeavor to end segregation and racial discrimination, African-Americans had exhausted the practices of boycotts, sit-ins, and marches and had slowly started to gain support. However, for some, this was not enough. Around this time, Malcolm X emerged as a prominent leader within the African-American struggle and adopted an unconventional approach of how African-Americans should fight for their rights. Instead of voicing for peaceful and pacifist practices, Malcolm X wanted his fellow Blacks to adopt a more proactive approach. In Malcolm X’s speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet”, although Malcolm X intends to emphasize the importance of the African-American vote, his speech is really a calling for them to wake up and adopt a much more insistent role in fighting for their innate rights. 

Malcolm X successfully touches upon many issues throughout his speech however, the most salient one from which he branches out is the issue of voting. Early on, Malcolm X explains that 1964 is an important year as elections are right around the corner:

It's the year when all of the white politicians will be back in the so-called Negro community jiving you and me for some votes. 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 which they don't intend to keep (Malcolm X, 1-2).

Here, Malcolm X fervently and explicitly states that white politicians head to African-American communities and make all these false promises not because they intend to help their struggle for equality, but merely because they seek to gain office. As Malcolm X impeccably phrases it: “That's why, in 1964, it's time now for you and me to become more politically mature and realize what the ballot is for; what we're supposed to get when we cast a ballot; and that if we don't cast a ballot, it's going to end up in a situation where we're going to have to cast a bullet. It's either a ballot or a bullet” (4). From this premise, Malcolm X successfully ventures out and urges his audience to stop turning a blind eye and instead, be much more mindful of who they vote for.

Throughout his speech, Malcolm X employs the use of various rhetorical techniques that help his speech come to life. From the very beginning, an immediate aspect that stands out is Malcolm X’s tone. Malcolm X’s extreme degree of bluntness along with the logic and analysis he presents creates a mood where the reader is able to feel the anger and dissatisfaction that he feels towards the not only the white man, but also his fellow Blacks. In his speech, Malcolm X goes through the usual formalities that one would expect of anyone presenting a speech to an audience. He begins by introducing himself, by providing the public with some background information about himself, and by starting to hint at what his speech will concern. Immediately following these formalities however, he switches into full gear when he states why he is here today: “I'm not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about, because it's time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem... We're all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man” (1). Shortly thereafter, he continues by stating that everyone has suffered at the hands of the white man, “All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man” (1). It is important and significant to note that Malcolm X wastes no time with formalities. Instead, he immediately delves into the matter at hand. This therefore provides an indication of the fact that this was a pressing matter in his eyes. The words that he uses are also important. “Hell”, “oppression”, “degradation”. These are very powerful words that not only seek reactions from his audience, they also serve to convey Malcolm X’s anger and dissatisfaction.

Malcolm X is not only angry and dissatisfied by the white man’s inability to recognize African-Americans as the Americans that they are, he is also dissatisfied by his fellow African-Americans’ degree of passiveness towards the situation that they are in.  Malcolm X presents a picture where it is as if African-Americans naively believe that voting for democrats would help their situation take a turn for the better. To this, Malcolm X tells them that they have to wake up. 

To get his audience thinking, Malcolm X points out that both the House of Representatives and the Senate have had a democratic majority for a while now and yet, African-Americans have not made any progress.  “What alibis do they use, since they control Congress and the Senate? What alibi do they use when you and I ask, "Well, when are you going to keep your promise?" They blame the Dixiecrats. What is a Dixiecrat? A Democrat” (3). A crucial element that Malcolm X repeatedly employs throughout his speech is the concept of rhetorical questioning. It is evident that Malcolm X recognizes the power of a question as here, he is not seeking answers from his audience, he is simply using these to keep his audience attentive so that they will ruminate on the statements he is making. “... I love my Brother Lomax, the way he pointed out we're right back where we were in 1954. We're not even as far up as we were in 1954. We're behind where we were in 1954. There's more segregation now than there was in 1954. There's more racial animosity, more racial hatred, more racial violence today in 1964, than there was in 1954. Where is the progress?” (5). In this quote, Malcolm X’s meticulous and strategic placement of the rhetorical question not only conveys his dissatisfaction, it also begins to make his audience really assimilate what he is saying.  By now it is evident that Malcolm X knows that getting his audience to arrive at his conclusions on their own is a much more effective way to bring about the changes he proposes later on than if he simply tells them to take what he says at face value. Malcolm X’s anger and dissatisfaction is readily apparent when he address them and states:

It was the black man's vote that put the present administration in Washington, D.C. Your vote, your dumb vote, your ignorant vote, your wasted vote put in an administration in Washington, D.C., that has seen fit to pass every kind of legislation imaginable, saving you until last, then filibustering on top of that. And your and my leaders have the audacity to run around clapping their hands and talk about how much progress we're making... (2). 

Malcolm X’s level of directness, his persistent attempts to get his audience to associate with what he is saying, and his logic all lead me to conclude that he was more than successful in his efforts to make his audience understand the importance and severity of not only their vote but also, their fight for rights as the Americans that they were.

Although the title of this speech may be “The Ballot or the Bullet”, as readers approach the final sections of his speech, it appears that there is a bigger and broader message that Malcolm X is trying to get out. By the end, Malcolm X explicitly states that African-Americans have to stop waiting around for the white man to eventually change his opinions of them. He proposes that the African-American community take matters into their own hands:

“If you don't take this kind of stand, your little children will grow up and look at you and think "shame." ... I don't mean go out and get violent... I'm nonviolent with those who are nonviolent with me. But when you drop that violence on me, then you've made me go insane, and I'm not responsible for what I do. And that's the way every Negro should get. Any time you know you're within the law, within your legal rights, within your moral rights, in accord with justice, then die for what you believe in (7).

Although Malcolm is essentially telling Blacks to treat their opposition as they treat them, Malcolm is also planting a little seed that advocates for a more active approach in fighting for their rights. “We want freedom now, but we're not going to get it saying "We Shall Overcome." We've got to fight until we overcome” (9). This marks a point where Malcolm X blatantly points out that nonviolence can only get them so far. The whole notion that they will not get their freedom by saying “We Shale Overcome” alludes to all the times they have peacefully demonstrated. Now, Malcolm X seeks to get them to fight until they overcome. 

“It's time for you and me to stop sitting in this country, letting some cracker senators, Northern crackers and Southern crackers, sit there in Washington, D.C., and come to a conclusion in their mind that you and I are supposed to have civil rights. There's no white man going to tell me anything about my rights. Brothers and sisters, always remember, if it doesn't take senators and congressmen and presidential proclamations to give freedom to the white man, it is not necessary for legislation or proclamation or Supreme Court decisions to give freedom to the black man. You let that white man know, if this is a country of freedom, let it be a country of freedom; and if it's not a country of freedom, change it” (11). 

With these words providing a sense of closure, Malcolm X is really urging his fellow compatriots to stop sitting around and instead wake up to the reality at hand: that if they truly wanted to progress, that they had to adopt a more forcible stance and fight for their rights as Americans. 

Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” is more than successful in not only cautioning African-Americans about the way that they exercise their right to vote, but also in urging his audience to stop turning a blind eye to their current situation and instead to adopt a more proactive role in efforts to finally receive the rights they deserved as Americans. Malcolm X’s extreme bluntness along with the logic and analysis that he presents creates a mood where the reader is more than able to feel his dissatisfaction and anger at both the white man and the black community. With the aforementioned elements, Malcolm X has the power to shock his audience into realizing the harsh truth that simple noncompliance will not help them more than it already has. Instead, he urges them to take action. This does not necessarily have to mean that the will go out and buy guns, as he points out in his speech, rather it means that they have to start by judiciously exercising their right to vote, by adopting a sense of black nationalism, and by adopting a more insistent role in fighting for their rights. Malcolm X expresses that only after this is done will they begin to gain ground. 

Works Cited

X, Malcolm. "The Ballot or the Bullet." Cleveland, Ohio. 3 Apr. 1964. Speech.

Blog Prompt - Drafting the Literary Analysis

Throughout my senior year of high school, particularly in English class, it seemed like there was no end to prompts that required one to closely read and analyze a piece of literature.Whether it was one of Donne's famous sonnets or Karl Marx's and Friedrich Engels' Manifesto of the Communist Party, in simple terms what we always had to look at was what the author was trying to communicate,what techniques he or she made use of in efforts to achieve their purpose, and ultimately, whether or not he or she managed to accomplish their goal. I saw our latest assignment in Freshman Composition, the analytical essay,  to be essentially the same as the assignments which I had encountered in high school. Although this was the case, one thing that I found to be interesting was the fact that we have a lot more leeway with regards to what we would like to discuss whereas in my previous experiences, the prompts were usually more tailored so that we would focus the essay that we would write in the end.
For the literary analysis, I ultimately decided to use Malcolm X's "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech. I chose this piece over the others suggested because it really grabbed my attention the day that we first used a small excerpt of it in class. From that small excerpt, what immediately caught my attention was Malcolm X's particular writing style. It was evident that Malcolm X was one to speak his mind. He writes in such a way where his readers not only understand what he is saying but rather, they are also capable of feeling the emotions driving his words. What really sealed the deal for me was the fact that after reading the entire speech, it was evident that there was something far more important at the heart of his work than what the title conveyed. I guess what I am trying to get at is the fact that it really seemed to me that Malcolm X chose everything that he talked about in his speech deliberately. What Malcolm X was really trying to accomplish in his speech was to hit his audience hard so that they would wake up and adopt a more proactive approach in their fight for equality.
The toughest obstacle to overcome in an analytical essay is definitely to come up with an arguable thesis. In order to make sure that my thesis was arguable, I first wrote it down and then continued to quickly jot down a couple of points both in opposition and in favor it. I repeated this a couple of times and gradually developed it to the one that I ended up using. I think that once you manage to come up with a decent arguable thesis, you already have a good portion of the work done because at that point you already have more than a good idea of what your essay will ultimately look like.

Literary Analysis - First Draft

The City College of New York

English 11000 Honors 

October of 2013

Omar Rafael

A Call For Action 

     In Malcolm X’s speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet”, although Malcolm X intends to emphasize the importance of the African-American vote by warning African-Americans that they have to cautiously exercise their right to vote during this crucial period, his speech is really a calling for them to wake up and adopt a much more insistent role in fighting for their innate rights. 

“Don’t be throwing out any ballots. A ballot is like a bullet. You don’t throw your ballots until you see a target, and if that target is not within your reach, keep you ballot in your pocket” (Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet”). If someone were to select a phrase that most clearly identifies the gist of Malcolm X’s speech, that line would probably achieve just that. Although Malcolm X successfully touches upon many issues, the most salient one from which he appears to branch out from is the issue of voting. Early in his speech, Malcolm X explains that the year of 1964 is an important year as elections are right around the corner. He fervently voices that this marks the time of the year where the white politicians head to the African-American communities and make all these false promises not because they intend to help their struggle for equality, but merely because they seek to gain office. From this premise, Malcolm X successfully ventures out and urges his audience to stop turning a blind eye to all of this and instead, be much more careful with who they give their votes to. 

Throughout his speech, Malcolm X employs the use of various rhetorical techniques that help his speech come to life. From the very beginning, an immediate aspect that stands out is Malcolm X’s tone. Malcolm X’s extreme degree of bluntness along with the logic and analysis he presents creates a mood where the reader is able to feel the anger and dissatisfaction that he feels towards the not only the white man, but also his fellow compatriots. In his speech, Malcolm X goes through the usual formalities that one would expect of anyone presenting a speech to an audience. He begins by introducing himself , by providing the public with some background information about himself, and by starting to hint at what his speech will concern. Immediately following these formalities however, he switches into full gear when he states why he is here today: “I'm not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about, because it's time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem... We're all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man” (Malcolm X, “The Ballot of the Bullet”). Shortly thereafter, he continues by flat-out stating that everyone has suffered at the hands of the white man,  “All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man” (Malcolm X). 

Malcolm X is not only angry and dissatisfied by the white man’s inability to recognize African-Americans as the Americans that they are, he is also dissatisfied by his fellow compatriots’ degree of passiveness towards the situation that they are in.  Malcolm X paints a picture where it is as if they believed that voting for democrats would help their situation take a turn for the better. To this, Malcolm X tells them that they have to wake up. He points out that both the House of Representatives and the Senate have had a democratic majority for a while now and yet, African-Americans have not made much progress.  Malcolm X’s anger and dissatisfaction is readily apparent when he directly address them and states that “It was the black man's vote that put the present administration in Washington, D.C. Your vote, your dumb vote, your ignorant vote, your wasted vote put in an administration in Washington, D.C., that has seen fit to pass every kind of legislation imaginable, saving you until last, then filibustering on top of that. And your and my leaders have the audacity to run around clapping their hands and talk about how much progress we're making...” (Malcolm X). Malcolm X’s level of directness, his persistent attempts to get his audience to associate with what he is saying, and his logic all lead me to conclude that he was more than successful in his efforts to make his audience understand the importance and severity of not only the importance of their vote but also, the importance of the fight for their rights as the Americans that they were.

Although the title of this speech may be “The Ballot or the Bullet”, as readers approach the final sections of this speech, it appears that there is a bigger and broader message that Malcolm X is trying to get out. By the end, Malcolm X explicitly states that African-Americans have to stop waiting around for the white man to eventually change his opinions of them. Instead, he proposes that the African-American community take matters into their own hands and adopt a sense of black nationalism so that all the evils harming the morality of the black community are removed so that everyone will be satisfied with where they are and consequently not aspire to belong to other social circles. He is asking that they all re-evaluate themselves so that their community will thrive. “It's time for you and me to stop sitting in this country, letting some cracker senators, Northern crackers and Southern crackers, sit there in Washington, D.C., and come to a conclusion in their mind that you and I are supposed to have civil rights. There's no white man going to tell me anything about my rights. Brothers and sisters, always remember, if it doesn't take senators and congressmen and presidential proclamations to give freedom to the white man, it is not necessary for legislation or proclamation or Supreme Court decisions to give freedom to the black man. You let that white man know, if this is a country of freedom, let it be a country of freedom; and if it's not a country of freedom, change it” (Malcolm X). With these words providing a sense of closure, Malcolm X is really urging his fellow compatriots to stop sitting around and instead wake up to the reality at hand: that if they truly wanted to progress, that they had to adopt a more forcible stance and fight for their rights as Americans. 

Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” is more than successful in not only cautioning African-Americans about the way that they exercise their right to vote, but also in urging his audience to stop turning a blind eye to their current situation and instead, to adopt a more proactive role in efforts to finally receive the rights they deserved as Americans. Malcolm X’s extreme bluntness along with the logic and analysis that he presents creates a mood where the reader is more than able to feel his dissatisfaction and anger at both the white man and the black community. With the aforementioned elements, Malcolm X has the power to shock his audience into realizing the harsh truth that simple noncompliance will not help them more than it already has. Instead, he urges them to take action. This does not necessarily have to mean that the will go out and purchase guns, as he points out in his speech, rather it means that they have to start by judiciously exercising their right to vote and by adopting a sense of black nationalism where they can re-evaluate themselves. Malcolm X expresses that only after this is done will they begin to gain grounds. 

Blog Prompt - "The Ballot or the Bullet"

Although I had always encountered Malcolm X in my history classes when we would go into the Civil Rights Movement, I have to admit that I had never read anything extensive that he had written. I knew the basics that were taught; that he was an assertive political activist in the U.S. who passionately advocated for African American rights. After my exposure to the small excerpt of his “The Ballot or the Bullet” however, I was intrigued to the point where I ultimately made it a point to actually read the whole piece. I understood the the whole purpose of his speech to be to warn African-Americans that they had to cautiously exercise their right to vote during this crucial time. I thought that he was more than successful in accomplishing his as he clearly expresses himself and his thoughts. 

Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” was a public speech that he gave in Cleveland, Ohio on the 3rd of April of 1964. What immediately caught my attention was his particular style of expressing himself. Right from the very beginning, I immediately felt everything that he was trying to convey to his audience. Malcolm X’s extreme degree of bluntness alongside the logic he presented made me feel the apparent anger and dissatisfaction that he had towards the white man. For example, in his speech, Malcolm X goes through the usual formalities that one would expect of anyone presenting a speech to an audience. He begins by introducing himself , by providing the public with some background information about himself, and by starting to hint at what his speech will concern. Immediately following these formalities however, it appears to me that he switches into full gear when he states the reason why he is here today: “I'm not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about, because it's time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem... We're all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man” (Malcolm X, “The Ballot of the Bullet”). I consider this part to be of crucial importance because it vaguely gets to capture the gist of what Malcolm X discusses later on. Instead, I saw this section as a portion where he successfully attempts to get his audience to feel the same feelings of dissatisfaction and anger that he felt. He flat-out states that all everyone has suffered at the hands of the white man,  “All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man” (Malcolm X, “The Ballot of the Bullet). As he begins to focus on the struggle that African-Americans were undergoing in their attempts to be considered Americans, he makes it clear that he is not anti-white in any way - he even makes it a point to state that he does not consider himself American. I think that it was the parts like these that really add weight and significance to what he was saying. Malcolm X’s level of directness, his persistent attempts to get his audience to associate with what he is saying, and his logic all lead me to conclude that he was more than successful in his efforts to make his audience understand the importance and severity of not only the way they would exercise their right to vote but also, the importance of the fight for their rights as the Americans that they were.