War or Peace: Two Approaches to Achieving Civil Rights

John Ralston

Alan Cox

U.S. History 1302-003

19 September 2019

War or Peace: Two Approaches to Achieving Civil Rights

Following the miserable failure of Reconstruction after the Civil War, America’s black population spent the next century striving for the civil rights that had been supposedly bestowed upon them by the 14^th and 15^th Amendments. A grassroots movement brought to the fore two strategies for attaining undeniable civil rights: nonviolent protest and black nationalism. Their respective proponents were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcom X.

Even though Dr. King and Malcom X encouraged different paths in the struggle to overcome racial segregation and disenfranchisement, they did agree on two key points. First, blacks in the United States were not free, not even 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. In a second delivery of his fiery speech entitled “The Ballot or the Bullet,” Malcom X proclaimed, “If you’re black, you were born in jail” (Detroit, April 12, 1964). Second, the U.S. government needed to take immediate action on civil rights. Segregationists of the era were infuriated by the incoming tide of racial equality, as evidenced by the violent break-up of a peaceful demonstration in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. Malcom X asserted the pressure building in black society was on the verge of exploding (“The Ballot or the Bullet,” Cleveland, April 3, 1964). Standing before the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. King also pointed out the “fierce urgency of now” in passing federal civil rights legislation (“I Have a Dream,” August 28, 1963).

After World War II, blacks learned how to use three weapons to achieve their objectives in the battle for civil rights: applying political and economic pressure, taking cases to court while citing the U.S. Constitution, and resorting to violence (Brogan 644–645). Malcom’s organization, the Nation of Islam, rejected Christianity (Brogan 659). He pointed out that some blacks no longer intended to “turn the other cheek” when provoked. Though Malcom X did not actively encourage violence, he believed that African Americans had the right to defend themselves if necessary (“The Ballot or the Bullet,” Cleveland, April 3, 1964). There also existed a militant subgroup called the Black Panther Party, whose members were willing to fight for racial justice “through the barrel of a gun,” an expression used by its cofounder Huey Newton (qtd. in Brinkley 840).

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by contrast, applied the teachings of the Bible and the experience of Mahatma Gandhi in India through the use of satyagraha, a moral authority derived from non-violence (Brogan 649). His belief was that blacks should combat the Jim Crow laws upholding segregation through peaceful civil disobedience to ultimately win their citizenship rights and live in brotherhood with whites. He became the embodiment of the civil rights movement (Brogan 649).

Martin Luther King had called for blacks to be given their just voting rights several years before Malcom X laid down his ultimatum in “The Ballot or the Bullet.” In a speech King gave in May 1957, called “Give Us the Ballot,” he asserted that giving African Americans the right to vote would improve their situation in several ways. For instance, the ability to vote would enable blacks to elect “men of goodwill” to office and as judges. Also, they would no longer have to ask for laws to be passed against lynching because those elected officials would be able to write and uphold the laws themselves. Lastly, backs would then implement the Supreme Court’s decision to end school segregation (A Call to Conscience 48).

Though Martin Luther King’s approach of nonviolence was admirable, it was not always effective. Job discrimination and housing discrimination continued even after the Civil Rights Act was adopted in 1964. Police brutality led to the Watts Riot in Los Angeles in 1965, and excessive use of force continues to cost the lives of blacks in America today. If the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 had not been passed, the result could have been another American civil war—this time pitting blacks against whites. The political, economic, and social aspects of black nationalism—de facto segregation on a voluntary basis—also could have created a separate Black America within the United States.

Neither King nor Malcom X qualify their speeches by including “arguments” for segregation offered up by whites, for racists do not deserve consideration. The word “struggle” used by those who did not experience the 1950’s and 1960’s is something of an understatement. The subsequent assassinations of both Dr. King and Malcom X prove what extremes certain individuals will resort to in order to maintain the status quo or even reverse social change. The persistence and recent revival of racism and bigotry in the United States may require a more severe shock to America’s system before they can be completely expunged.

 

Works Cited

Brinkley, Alan. American History: A Survey. 11th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2003, pp. 836–840.

Brogan, Hugh. Longman History of the United States of America. Book Club Associates, 1987, pp. 644–659.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. “Give Us the Ballot.” A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Edited by Carson, Clayborn, and Kris Shepard. Intellectual Properties Management, Inc., in association with Grand Central Publishing, 2001, p. 48.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. “I Have a Dream.” Speech. March on Washington. Lincoln Memorial. Washington, D.C. August 28, 1963. https://www.archives.gov/files/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf

X, Malcom. “The Ballot or the Bullet.” King Solomon Baptist Church. Detroit, Michigan. April 12, 1964. http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/blackspeech/mx.html.