These nonviolent protests did work, however they took a large amount of manpower. These protests had to have hundreds involved or last for many days to get any significant media coverage. Malcolm X, along with many other African Americans, were upset with how long these protests were taking. Malcolm X believed that more could be accomplished with violent protests, as he says in his first public address on behalf of the newly formed Organization of Afro-American Unity on June 28th, 1964, he says “and bring about the freedom of these people by any means necessary. That's our motto. We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary.” (Blackpast.org). This shows that even after Malcolm’s pilgrimage to Mecca, he believed that violent protests were the ways to get media attention. His “by any means necessary” (Blackpast.org) was empowering to many African Americans who felt that not enough was being done and that there was a limit to how far their leaders would go. This motto became a rallying cry for many young African Americans and offered people who felt that not enough was coming out of Martin Luther King’s protests a new leader and style …show more content…
Martin Luther King sought equality for African Americans (History.com). Both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King underlying message was the same, to improve life for African Americans. However, Malcolm X believed this would be very difficult through integration. Malcolm X wanted more self-definition and self-reliance in African American communities. He believed that the easiest and ideal way to obtain this was through a separate African American state. For a majority of Malcolm X’s career in the Civil Rights Movement, he was a part of the Nation Of Islam. He played a large part in using his speaking skills to influence others to join the Nation Of Islam. They believed that Christianity was “the white man’s religion” (US History.org) and that it was forced on African Americans while in slavery. He pushed for African American nationalism and wanted African Americans to set up their own schools, churches, and support networks. Malcolm X along with the Nation Of Islam pushed the message that whites could not be trusted and that African Americans should be proud of their heritage and to set up strong communities without the help of whites. Malcolm X wanted a “separate state for African Americans in which they could rely on themselves to provide solutions to their own problems” (USHistory.org) and believed that violence was justified in