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.