Malcolm X Being A Hero Analysis

pick out. The article could however be read either in favour of or against Malcolm X being a hero, depending on the initial opinion of the reader, which makes it useful for proving points either way but at the same time unreliable as solid evidence. If the reader initially believes that Malcolm X’s encouragement of violence by blacks against racist whites was necessary, quotes such as, “It is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks”, and “When our people are being bitten by dogs, they are within their rights to kill those dogs.” By saying these things, Malcolm X is essentially stating that the time has come for black people to give up on peaceful forms of protest such as the marches and …show more content…
It was written by an African-American. However, it would be inaccurate to assume that just because the article was written by a black person, the article must be biased in favour of Malcolm X. There were two main movements within the struggle for racial equality in the US as have been identified earlier – the Civil Rights Movement (CRM), and Black Power (BP). Overall, the CRM stood for passive resistance, while BP adopted the slogan, “By any means necessary”, and therefore became involved in many violent protests. The CRM and Black Power often clashed in methods to achieve what was, essentially, the same thing, and several public statements made by officials from either organisation exposed this disagreement. Martin Luther King, Jr., (MLK), often had articles published in the Amsterdam News. The newspaper overall, however, is not obviously biased in either direction, be it to BP or the CRM. The article being discussed is titled, “Malcolm X Explains His Rifle Statement.” It was published on the 28th March 1964, written by George Todd. This article definitely represents Malcolm X as a hero in terms of the overall fight against racial inequality – quotes from him such as “People have a right to defend themselves”, which