Similarities Between Martin Luther King Jr And Malcolm X

With the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement in 1954, African Americans were determined to gain peace for their race while holding the government accountable for the growing racism and racial inequality within the country. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were human and civil rights leaders who strove to find solutions to eliminate racial inequality issues that had consumed the United States of America for decades. However, King and Malcolm held differing views on solutions and approaches to eliminating racial inequality and providing freedom for all races. Baptist minister and civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of civil rights supporters as a call to end racism in the United States as well as civil and economic rights for all races. In the introduction of the speech, he discussed the day that America’s forefathers signed the Emancipation Proclamation was a beacon of light for enslaved African Americans, as they would one day be free and seen as individuals rather than slaves. King states, “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.” Continuing, Dr. King believes that the origin of racial inequality lies solely with America and the refusal to view all races as equal, like the forefathers who wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence strove to provide. Relating the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence to a promissory note, King stated “This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds”. To achieve equality, Dr. King believed that all races must integrate in order for the hatred and violence to be stopped. In the process of gaining racial equality, he reminded individuals to steer clear of wrongful deeds and physical violence, as he believed this would further propel individuals for hatred of one particular race. Instead, he urged individuals to conduct themselves with dignity and self-discipline to achieve equal rights passively, never with aggression. Unlike the views of Dr. King, Malcolm X, a Muslim minister and human rights activist, believed differently about race and racial inequality in America. Malcolm delivered his speech, “God’s Judgement of White America (The Chickens Come Home to Roost), to portray the dark future that was looming for the white race. He believed that the White’s were the cause of racial inequalities and that they did not take into account what African Americans desired, rather thinking only of themselves and not other existing races. During the speech, Malcolm X makes numerous references to scriptures within the Bible, such as The Great Flood, Moses and the Pharaoh, Daniel, and David and Goliath. With these references, Malcolm reminds followers that individuals who sinned in the Scripture were faced with Judgement Day or removed from Earth by the power of God, thus inferring that history would repeat itself and the White’s fate would rest in the hands of Almighty God. With this mentality, Malcolm was a firm believer that America must pay for the racial inequalities that were created and upheld. Malcolm X also had opposing views on how to gain racial equality for the African American race, as he believed that total separation, violence and desires of the race would solve these issues. Malcolm followed the teachings and philosophies of Elijah Muhammad who warned, “The only permanent solution to America’s race problem is the complete separation of these twenty-two million ex-slaves from our white slave master, and the return of these ex-slaves to our own land, where we can then live in peace and security among our people”. As Malcolm’s speech unfolds, he later stated that the government should provide transportation and the necessities of life to African Americans so they may become independent people in their own country, if the separation of races would be the resolution to racial inequalities. Rather than using nonviolent tactics, Malcolm X believed that the resolution process was never to be peaceful, nonviolent, compromising, as there would be no negotiating with the enemy, only victory for the African American race. Pertaining to the government and the White race, he believed that they were providing African Americans with false promises of integration and civil rights which caused upheaval within America. Malcolm stated, “The white man should try to learn what the black masses want, and the only way to learn what the black masses want is by listening to the man who speaks for the black masses of America. Find out what the black masses want, and then perhaps America’s grave race problem can be solved”. Reflecting on Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X’s understandings of racial inequality and their probable solutions, I believe they held conflicting views on resolutions for racial inequality based on their attitudes toward Whites. Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for the integration of African Americans and Whites, while Malcolm X advocated for the separation of the two races. I believe their viewpoints concerning the previous statement influenced their solution to end the problem of racial
inequality.