The Bullet or the Ballot

In 1964, Malcolm X gave a speech entitled “The Ballot or the Bullet” which described how African Americans should fight for civil-rights in America. Malcolm X emphasizes the importance of voting as a solution to ending discrimination against African Americans. He addresses both the poor voting decisions and also the denial of legitimate voting rights to African Americans. Because elections had been so narrowly decided in recent elections, the Black vote is the deciding factor in elections. Whites also have prevented African Americans in the electoral process. Malcolm X says that either "the ballot or the bullet" will come next in the civil rights struggle. This meant that government must allow African Americans to legitimately vote or else violence will be their means to influence government. A second solution to the civil rights struggle was to change the discrimination of African Americans from a civil rights issue to a human rights issue. I feel that in this speech Malcolm X advocates liberal ideas. Because the government is a contract with the people and the purpose of government is to secure everyone’s individual rights, people have the right to rebel if the government violates the contract. Since African Americans were denied their civil liberties, either the ballot or the bullet should be next. Blacks will either get their rights or they will rebel against government.

Malcolm X’s speech “The Bullet or the Ballot” relates to me because I am young African American male and in the 2008 election there is a African American male candidate who to me has a lot of good values and standards I believe he has what it takes to become the next president of the Unite States. I value you the fact that I can vote I feel that now that I am 18 years of age it is an honor to vote and I take it very much serious like the catch phrase “Vote Or Die” I can relate to Malcolm X’s speech either the Bullet or the Ballot one hundred percent, I value my vote and believe that although I am one person I can still make or contribute to change. If anything The Bullet or the Ballot made me want to vote even more so then I wanted to before I have a new outlook on how it is important for African Americans to vote. The project has prepared me for the upcoming election because it has taught me not to follow the crowd and to follow who is the best candidate for me, there are issues that are very important to me that I would like to see changed as soon as possible. The issues of healthcare is the most important issue to American across the world it something that they would like to see changed and be more affordable for Americans.

Malcolm X’s “The Ballot of the Bullet” opened the eyes to many African Americans on the political parties and the treatment towards minority voters in the past. “This is the year when all of the white politicians are going to come into the Negro community. You never see them until election time. You can’t find them until election time. They’re going to come in with false promises, and as they make these false promises they're going to feed our frustrations and this will only serve to make matters worse.”X, Malcolm. "The Ballot or the Bullet." 03, April, 1964. What Malcolm X was saying in this line right here I believe is true most political parties only seem to care about the community when there is an election coming up they don’t seem to care about the community as whole or issues that the community may have before an election. In the past political parties have “buttered up” minority voters because in all honesty it was up to minorities to make a difference and change the outcome on who became the next president. “And what kind of alibi do they come up with? They try and pass the buck to Dixiecrats. Now back during the days when you were blind, deaf, and dumb, ignorant, politically immature, naturally you went along with that. But today as your eyes come open, and you develop political maturity, you’re able to see and think for yourself, and you can see that a Dixiecrat is nothing but a Democrat in disguise.” “You, today, have -- are in the hands of a government of segregationists, racists, white supremacists who belong to the Democratic party, but disguise themselves as Dixiecrats. A Dixiecrat is nothing but a Democrat. Whoever runs the Democrats is also the father of the Dixiecrats, and the father of all of them is sitting in the White House. I say and I say it again: You got a President who’s nothing but a Southern segregationist from the state of Texas. They’ll lynch you in Texas as quick as they’ll lynch you in Mississippi. Only in -- in Texas they lynch you with a Texas accent; in Mississippi they lynch you with a Mississippi accent” I learned that most parties at that time were sneaky and all about tricks, they tricked