Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X: Contrasting Approaches to Civil Rights

Abstract

Instructor’s Name When we talk about the Civil Rights Movement, we won’t fail to mention Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. These were activists and prolific men who enacted the struggle for justice and equality for African Americans. This made them the most influential men in the Civil Rights Movement. According to (Tyler, 2018), the counter of segregation, freedom, and dignity was marked by adversity in the harsh conditions in 1963. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were two different activists with different beliefs yet two great Americans. Martin Luther King was an integrationist who believed in mutuality and mixing the other races. He strived for black assimilation into the white American society to seek equality, while Malcolm X was a black nationalist who firmly believed in black supremacy. He advocated that black Americans embrace their own identity and refrain from adopting white culture and values. Malcolm X and King were seen as two opposing forces in the quest for civil rights in white society. They were raised in different backgrounds white stemmed their different opinions. King came from a well-known family in Atlanta and was raised by loving parents, and through this, he received the best education. Malcolm X was a nobody; he never received an education, his father was murdered, and he split from his mother after her breakdown, which stirred bitterness and anger in him. The different backgrounds tell the reason why their ideologies are grounded differently. King's architecture is a nonviolent insider, while Malcolm X is characterized as a renegade. The two braid together the lives of different civil rights leaders but their strategies to reach the goal of fighting for freedom was significantly influenced by their different upbringing. This discussion harmonizes the opposing view of Malcolm X on goals and methods used to advocate for justice and equality. Malcolm X, you believe in the wrong motives because of the bitterness and anger of the past life. The reality is that the common goal is not to outshine the other and prove supremacy. We need mutual integration to create a cohesive society. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” This means that Malcolm X cannot use his dark parts to transmit venom since it will not work. There is a need to sanitize to win the battle quickly. The goals of Malcolm X are intriguing and dangerous. The purpose of racial separatism. Unfortunately, Malcolm addresses that Black Americans should love themselves and organize themselves in building...