Debate Paper on Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all men. These words spoken by Christ can be found in Romans 12:8 that refer to living in peace with everyone. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are both men that fought and petitioned for equality for black people. Did they both have different approaches and views on how to obtain said peace and equality? Absolutely. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in the pacifist way for reaching the level of peace that was desired by the general black community and himself.
Malcolm X, on the other hand, was not as passive and didn’t believe in the nonviolent method that Dr. King did. Malcolm X believed that getting peace by any means necessary and fighting back both verbally and physically against all of those that stood in the way of the main goal. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in the philosophy that racial equality would only be embraced and reached through peaceful acts such as marches and sit-ins. He got his inspiration for these peaceful from Gandhi along with his religious background.
Throughout all of his speeches I have read including the “Where Do We Go from Here” and “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. King always speaks in with a call to peaceful action by utilizing the pathos appeal by using the future of his children as a prime example in each speech. Malcolm X didn’t quite agree with the nonviolent approach during the civil rights era. He believed that the best way to get the results that both he and Dr. King wanted was by fighting white aggressors and whoever else stood in the way of the getting it. Some people believed that Malcolm X’s approach was better and more effective that Dr.
King’s method because it produced more tangible differences that Dr. King’s. In Malcolm X’s speech entitled “The Ballot or the Bullet”, he fights the fire of aggression from the oppressors of the black community by defending it with fire. For example, on line in the speech states that “I believe in action on all fronts by whatever means necessary. ” In my personal opinion, I agree with the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I am a wholehearted believer of nonviolence. Whenever there is a problem, there will always be a proper nonviolent solution.
