Rhetorical Analysis: The Ballot Or The Bullet

The Civil Rights Movement gave birth to a large amount of preachers and orators, attempting to inspire change in a nation. One of those such people was Malcolm X, an aggressive revolutionist who took over the movement through fiery rhetoric. In his speech, “The Ballot or the Bullet,” he uses mostly his own opinions, beliefs, and emotions on the experiences at hand, rather than logic and reasoning to convince the audience that there needs to be a change in the way African Americans are treated in the United States. In his speech Malcolm encourages the fight for social justice on many grounds, urging for one’s religion to not stand in the way. Malcolm establishes trust with the crowd by introducing himself as a Muslim, but tells the audience to ignore his beliefs because that is not what the fight is about. Malcolm mentions that great advocates in the …show more content…
For example, he would present a negative comment about a group of people, like the “white people,” Democrats, or Republicans, but he would then clarify this by saying that it was not the people he had something against, but rather their actions. It is obvious that his interest in the issue is not coming from any sort of prejudice against a certain group, but from his sincere passion in helping the black community. Malcolm uses logos to back up his core arguments. For example, he compares the fight for civil rights to the fight in war, saying, “If you can be brave over there, you can be brave right here. These odds aren't as great as those odds. And if you fight here, you will at least know what you're fighting for.” Men, at the time, were being drafted into a war where they had no idea what they were fighting for. They were fighting because they were told it was good for the country. They were just doing as they were told. Malcolm suggests that it is better to fight for a war that means something to