Summary Of The Ballot Or The Bullet

The speech “The Ballot or the Bullet” given by Malcolm X in April 1964 argues the importance of Black Nationalism, his political, economic, and social philosophy. It was given in response to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Malcolm X knew the promise of equal rights free of racial discrimination was again an empty promise, as the promise of abolishing slavery. Black people’s status in American was not freedom or second class citizenship but the slavery of the twentieth century. With Black Nationalism, black people would be in control of their own community instead of relying on the support of white men in power. This is why he describes it as a self-help philosophy. White people have failed to help black people so Malcolm X urges people to help