Martin Luther King Jr’s “Beyond Vietnam” and Malcolm X’s “Message to the Grassroot” are both powerful speeches to their own cause. Both similar in trying to prove America has its own agenda, but it’s not for the people’s benefit. Each speech speaks to the character of the speaker, which makes them so vastly different in perspective. Martin Luther King Jr was a renowned civil rights activist who advocated nonviolent protests to make a statement, whereas Malcolm X was an activist for black Muslim faith that challenged the civil rights movement and their nonviolent means that was lead by Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr could no longer stay silent about the Vietnam war, for even the headlines read “Silence is betrayal” [1]. He …show more content…
This war was drafting young black men, that had no opportunities here at home due to segregation and lack of equal rights, yet as soon as they were drafted, they became equals. They could not sit together in schools, they could not drink from the same fountains, but they can be shipped off to war, fight together, die together and be known as equals. Martin Luther King Jr walked among the ghettos talked to the angered, rejected young black men, advising violence was not the way to solve problems. Yet when they spoke to him, they asked “what about Vietnam?” Martin Luther could not argue against this, America was showing the world that to resolve a problem, one must resort to violence. This is the only similarity between Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. Malcolm felt America did not want the black community, and the sooner that the black people realized this, the sooner they could plot to fix that way of thinking. He advised the black community needs to “forget its differences, whether its religion or social ranking, you don’t catch hell because of these things, you catch hell because you’re black”. Black people were brought over on slave ships, were deemed second class citizens that didn’t belong. There was one common enemy, one common oppressor “the white man”. White man sent the black man overseas to bleed for a country that doesn’t even want them, but expects them to fight for her honor. Yet when it comes time to seeing your neighborhoods bombed and little girls murder at home, your blood, your honor doesn’t exist. How can there be nonviolence in Mississippi when you were overseas? If violence is wrong in America, its wrong everywhere. If it’s wrong when defending a black woman and her children, then it’s wrong for America to make us violent in her defense. If it’s right for America
Martin Luther King Jr could no longer stay silent about the Vietnam war, for even the headlines read “Silence is betrayal” [1]. He …show more content…
This war was drafting young black men, that had no opportunities here at home due to segregation and lack of equal rights, yet as soon as they were drafted, they became equals. They could not sit together in schools, they could not drink from the same fountains, but they can be shipped off to war, fight together, die together and be known as equals. Martin Luther King Jr walked among the ghettos talked to the angered, rejected young black men, advising violence was not the way to solve problems. Yet when they spoke to him, they asked “what about Vietnam?” Martin Luther could not argue against this, America was showing the world that to resolve a problem, one must resort to violence. This is the only similarity between Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. Malcolm felt America did not want the black community, and the sooner that the black people realized this, the sooner they could plot to fix that way of thinking. He advised the black community needs to “forget its differences, whether its religion or social ranking, you don’t catch hell because of these things, you catch hell because you’re black”. Black people were brought over on slave ships, were deemed second class citizens that didn’t belong. There was one common enemy, one common oppressor “the white man”. White man sent the black man overseas to bleed for a country that doesn’t even want them, but expects them to fight for her honor. Yet when it comes time to seeing your neighborhoods bombed and little girls murder at home, your blood, your honor doesn’t exist. How can there be nonviolence in Mississippi when you were overseas? If violence is wrong in America, its wrong everywhere. If it’s wrong when defending a black woman and her children, then it’s wrong for America to make us violent in her defense. If it’s right for America