Chace Harmon History 1700 11/11/13 Mon. & Wed.

1:00-2:20

Sixth Reaction Paper

When it comes to the civil rights movement, people know about Martin Luther King Jr. They know about his peaceful approach to change, and that he was against any thought of a violent protest. People need to become more educated with the view of Malcom X, and his aggressive approach. While both of the documents we read in class are by two black civil right icons who are trying to achieve the same thing, and were willing to give up their life for it. It is obvious that they have a different opinion on how it needs to be done. MLK Jr. may have not wanted violence to be used in any protest but just as he says in Letter from a Birmingham Jail just because he isnt a violent man doesnt make him an urgent man. Also in this document he was asked why he didnt try to negotiate with the politicians, and why did he have to do actions such as sit ins, and marches. Even though he had tried to negotiate with the Birmingham administration multiple times his reply was straight forward and I am sure cut deep to whom the letter concerned. In reply to why he didnt continue to try and negotiate he said- Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to

negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. In the speech Ballot or Bullet by Malcom X the urgency and emotion comes out much stronger then the letter written by MLK. Although they are both trying to get the message the same message across, the one that has much more of an impact on me is the one written by Malcom X. In both documents you have Malcom and Martin bring up the fact that they are not going to thank white people for just now thinking about giving black people rights. These rights should not be anything new. They both talk about how blacks are sick and tired of standing on the side and watching their race be treated so badly. The new generation of blacks is not going to sit around and allow the treatment they are getting. Malcom says today its malotov cocktails, and tomorrow it will be hand grenades when talking about blacks reacting fighting back against white supremacists. MLK Jr. was asked why he felt he had to come all the way from Atlanta to intervene with issues in Birmingham. It is obvious to see where both Malcom and MLK are coming from. MLK starts his letter off talking about his religious background. He makes sure the reader knows he is a leader in his Christian community, and it is obvious the rest of his letter shows his Christian side. Malcom on the other hand may be a Christian but has no reason to express that he is. He is much more of a cutthroat guy. In the speech Ballots or Bullets he lets you know he is not an American. White people with rights are Americans. But he is one of the twenty two million black people that are victims of Americanism.

These two documents give a great insight to what the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement were thinking. Not only do they discuss different issues that are going on but you can see the different emotions and reactions that they have. Although they both take different paths when it comes to telling people what they are trying to do, it is obvious they both have the same goal. Being a white male in todays society, Malcom Xs speech was a lot more touching and got its point across if I were trying to get an insight into what blacks were feeling during the Civil Rights Movement.