Comparison of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X Essay Example for Free

Comparison of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X Essay They were black men who had a dream, but never lived to see it fulfilled. One was a man who spoke out to all humanity, but the world was not yet ready for his peaceful words. I have a dream, a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed that all men are created equal. (Martin Luther King) The other, a man who spoke of a violent revolution, which would bring about radical change for the black race. Anything you can think of that you want to change right now, the only way you can do it is with a ballot or a bullet. And if youre not ready to get involved with either one of those, you are satisfied with the status quo. That means well have to change you. (Malcom X) While Martin Luther King promoted non-violence, civil rights, and the end to racial segregation, a man of the name of Malcom X dreamed of a separate nation. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the conscience of his generation. A Southerner, a black man, he gazed upon the great wall of segregation and saw that the power of love could bring it down. From the pain and exhaustion of his fight to free all people from the bondage of separation and injustice, he wrung his eloquent statement of what America could be. (Ansboro, pg. 1) An American clergyman and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, he was one of the principle leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement and a prominent advocate of nonviolent protest. Kings challenges to segregation and racial discrimination in the 1950s and 1960s, helped convince many white Americans to support the cause of civil rights in the United States. After his assassination in 1968, King became the symbol of protest in the struggle for racial justice. (King, Martin Luther, Jr. , pg. 1) In 1964, Malcom X founded an organization called The Muslim Mosque, Inc. In an interview conducted by A. B. Spellman on March 19, 1964, Malcom speaks of his goals for this organization. The Muslim Mosque, Inc. will have as its religious base the religion of Islam, which will be designed to propagate the moral reformations necesary to up the level of the so-called Negro community by eliminating the vices and other evils that destroy the moral fiber of the community. But the political philosophy of the Muslim Mosque will be black nationalism, as well as the social and economic philosophies. We still believe in the Honorable Elijah Muhammands solution as complete separation. The 22 million so-called Negroes should be separated completely from America and should be permitted to go back home to our native African homeland. (Breitmaned, pgs. 5-6) Perhaps the key to these two African-Americans leaders opposing goals lay within their very different pasts. Malcom X was born in Omaha as Malcom Little. Malcoms faith, a Baptist minister was an outspoken follower of Marcus Garvey, the black nationalist leader of the 1920s. The family moved to Lansing, Michigan, and when Malcom was six years old, his father was murdered after receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan. Malcoms mother suffered a nervous breakdown and her eight children were taken by the welfare department. Malcom was sent first to a foster home and then to a reform school. After 8th grade, Malcom moved to Boston where he worked various jobs and eventually became involved in criminal activity. (Malcom X, pg. 1) In 1946, he was sentenced to prison for burglary. While in prison, Malcom became invested in the teachings of Elijah Muhammed, the leader of the black Muslims also called the Nation of Islam. Malcom spent his time in jail educating himself and learning more about the black Muslims, who advocated racial separation. When Malcom was released in 1952, he joined a black Muslim temple in Detroit and became the most prominent spokesperson for the Nation of Islam by the early 1960s. It was then that he took the name of Malcom X. (Malcom, pg. 1) Martin Luther King was born in Alanta, Georgia, the eldest son of Martin Luther King, Sr. a Baptist minister, and Alberta Williams King. King attended local segregated public schools, where he excelled. He entered nearby Morehouse College at age 15 and graduated with a bachelors degree in sociology in 1948. After graduating with honors from Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania in 1951, he went to Boston University where he earned a doctoral degree in systematic theology in 1955. (King, Martin Luther, Jr. , pg. 1) Throughout Kings education, he was exposed to influences that related Christian theology to the struggles of oppressed peoples. At Morehouse, Crozer, and Boston University, he studied the teachings on nonviolent Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi. King also read and heard the sermons of white Protestant ministers who preached against American racism. He was married in 1953, and in 1954, he accepted his first pastorate at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, a church of well-educated congretions that had recently by a minister who had protested against segregation. (King, Martin Luther, Jr. , pg. 1) Where as King was full of love, peace, respect, and compassion for his fellow white brother, Malcom X was full of hate, anger, and vengeance. He was a dark presence, an angry, cynical, implacable man whose good will or forgiveness or even pity the white race could neither earn nor buy. Coffee, he once remarked in an interview, is the only thing I like integrated. He also pleasantly mentioned that whites were inherently enemies of the Negroes and that integration was impossible without great bloodletting. Nonviolence was as he put it, a mealy-mouth, beg-in, wait-in, plead-in kind of action, and it was only a device for disarming the blacks. He also believed that everything we had heard to the contrary from the Martin Luther Kings and the Roy Wilkinses and the Whiteny Youngs was a deadly dangerous pack of lies. Thats etiquette, he said. Etiquette means to blend in with society. They are being polite. The average Negro doesnt even let another Negro know what he thinks, hes so mistrusting. Im black first- my whole objectives are black, my allegiance is black, my whole objectives are black. By me being a Muslim, Im not interested in American, because America has never been interested in me. (Goldman, pg. 5) Black blood, claimed Malcom X, is stronger than white. A person can have a teaspoon of black in him, and that makes him black. Black cant come from white, but white can come from black. That means black was first. If black is first, black is supreme and white is dependent on black. He meant to haunt whites, to play on their fears and quicken their guilt and deflate their dreams that everything was getting better- and he did. Americas problem is us. Malcom X told whites that if they argued that the sins of the past ought not to visited on them, he would reply: Your father isnt here to pay his debts. My father isnt here to collect, but Im here to collect, and youre here to pay. (Goldman, pgs. 6-9) Martin Luther King is known for his key role as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), the oganixation that directed the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomerys black community had long standing grievances about the mistreatment of blacks on the citys buses. Many white bus drivers treated blacks rudely, often cursing them and humiliating them by enforcing the citys segregation laws, which forced black riders to sit in the back of busses and give up their seats to white passengers on crowded busses. By the 1950s, Montgomerys blacks discussed boycotting the busses in an effort to gain better treatment- but not necessarily to end segregation. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a leading member of the local branch of the NAACP, was ordered to give up her seat to a white passenger. When she refused, she was arrested and taken to jail. Local leaders of the NAACP, especially Edgar D. Nixon, recognized recently arrived Kings public speaking gifts as great assets in the battle for black civil rights in Montgomery. King was soon chosen as president of the MIA, the organization that directed the bus boycott.

The Road Not Taken Vs. Mother To Son Essay -- essays research papers

Paths are Like Stairs   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although they portray two very different writing styles, Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken† and Langston Hughes’s â€Å"Mother to Son† have a few things in common, especially their meanings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"The Road not Taken† Frost speaks of a time in his life where he had to make a choice, a choice of which direction his life was about to go: â€Å"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both† (1-2). â€Å"Mother to Son† also speaks of life in a metaphorical way, but as a staircase rather than two paths: â€Å"Well, son, I’ll tell you / Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair† (1-2).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Later in â€Å"The Road Not Taken† Frost describes the appearance of each road, one as being less traveled on than the other by people before him who had to make the same decision: â€Å"And looked down one as far as I could / Then took the other, just as fair / Because it was grassy and wanted wear† (4,6,8). â€Å"Mother to Son† takes it another step as to describe the staircase the mother had to climb. She explains how hard it was but also how she never gave up: â€Å"It’s had tacks in it / And splinters / And boards torn up / But all the time / I’se been a-climbin’ on† (3-5,8-9).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Road Not Taken† ends by giving a moral to us about Frost’s life and the path he did take. Although Frost doesn’t thoroughly explain the path he took, the reader ...

An Analysis of The Clod and the Pebble

Speaker/Tone: â€Å"The Clod and the Pebble† by Sir Francis Blake In the poem â€Å"The Clod and the Pebble† Sire Francis Blake compares selfish and unselfish love through interesting and thought provoking interpretations. These viewpoints are obvious through Blake’s indication of their states of innocence and experience. His first entity, which is a clod, says, â€Å"love seeketh not itself to please†(Blake 3). The second interpretation, which is given in the form of a pebble, reasons, â€Å" Love seeketh only Self to please†(Blake 11). The clod is depicted as a selfless, passionate emotion whereas the pebble is a vain, arrogant and selfish sentiment.We can assume that the author has a lot of experiences when it comes to love, possibly writing this poem in a period of romanticism, but cannot assume he is the speaker. The different perspectives of love in the poem lead the reader to believe that there are two speakers. The Clod may perhaps be of a f eminine viewpoint, which is understandable after reading â€Å"Nor for itself have any care† and â€Å"Trodden with cattle’s feet†, where love is unselfish and sacrificial (Blake 2). The pebble gives off a sense of authority gained from experiences while it mocks the innocence of the clod.The abrupt use of â€Å"But† provides a change to the sweet and harmonious tones of the first stanza, while the phrase â€Å"a pebble of the brook† represents it is a hard and unmovable object, learned from its experiences. Specific words such as â€Å"care† used by the clod and â€Å"bind† used by the pebble are what make the feminine/masculine tones understandable. The beautiful and artful personifications of the content clod and pompous pebble create a clear understanding in contrasting the representation of the selfishness and selflessness of human nature in love.

Civil Disobedience, By Dr. Martin Luther King - 1657 Words

There have been many people that have partaken in the act of not following, or breaking a law that they personally have deemed unjust throughout history, or taken part in civil disobedience . Socrates as well as Dr. Martin Luther King have done this. But the question of whether or not we should be required to follow a law that one personally believes is unjust is very hard to answer. Nevertheless, I believe that we should in fact be able to disobey a law and or a decision that we consider to be unjust. However, in saying this there are some guidelines that come with this. I am not saying that one should just have a complete disregard for the law, which would result in chaos and there would not be a civil society. Nonetheless, what I am†¦show more content†¦Subsequently, if a person or group decides that the law is unjust, then they must decide to react appropriately. However, in the case of where the unjust law that is trying to be undone will result in a greater injustice, the law should remain the same and the group or person must not act to try and change the law. Moving on, there is a vast difference between a group of people participating in civil disobedience, where a person or group breaks the law with the knowledge an acceptance of the consequence, and just sheer violence in response to an unjust law. The whole point of participating in a protest against an unjust law is to bring awareness and conversation about it and try and rectify the unjust law with a just one. Therefore, to involve one’s self with a violent unjust act against the unjust law you are trying to protest against out of spite and do not want to accept the consequences against the people that are enforcing this unjust law will result in a loss of legitimacy for your protest. Socrates puts it in a very simple way, â€Å"Nor must one, when wronged, inflict wrong in return† Socrates saying this gives a reason why he does not try to bribe his way out of prison. So, thi s is the difference between someone who is breaking the law on purpose who wants sincere change, and someone who is just retaliating out of anger of the unjust law. For this reason, it would be counterproductive to strike back with utterShow MoreRelatedCivil Disobedience, And Martin Luther King Jr. s Letter From Birmingham Jail1018 Words   |  5 PagesToday, the word disobedience carries a negative connotation that acts as a deterrent for necessary disobedience. The common way in which people view disobedience is as a rejection of a rule, law, or a simple standard. Historically, rules were implemented in ways that were deemed immoral by society. Therefore, civil disobedience is justified to combat immoral standards implemented in society. 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