What Is the Summary of Malcolm X’s Speech “Ballot or Bullet?”?
The summary of Malcolm X’s speech “Ballot or Bullet” is that black people need to fight for their rights in the United States and should focus on obtaining voting rights as well as using voting as a way to take serious action. According to Malcolm X and his speech, black Americans were not able to end discrimination because they were not working for voting rights and then using those voting rights.
Malcolm X was convinced that voting was the way to change racial prejudice in the country. He gave the “Ballot or Bullet” speech in 1964 to a group of preachers and black supporters. His speech also shed light on the idea of religion interfering with justice because it distanced the people from one another. He felt that religion was a private matter and should only be between God and the believer. He advocated that people put aside their religious beliefs when working for equal rights for black people in order to remain fully united as one.
He also talked about the importance of black nationalism and building a black community that stands up to white manipulation. He stresses the importance of black people becoming politically intelligent so that they can make wise choices about officials and only choose people who will help the black community. He felt that the best way for people to become politically intelligent was to rely on one another as members of a large black community to help aid independent learning.
