Being that 2016 is an election year, and we are faced with two unique candidates, many of our youth are saying they are choosing not to vote. Reading Malcolm X’s “The Ballot or the Bullet” provides reasoning and explanation as to why African Americans should fight for their right to vote during the election of 1964, and in essence proving that we should take advantage in 2016. He does this by attempting to guilt trip the audience. He states “If you don’t take this kind of stand, your little children will grow up and look at you and think ‘shame.’ If you don’t take an uncompromising stand, I don’t mean go out and get violent; but at the same time you should never be nonviolent unless you run into some nonviolence.”
In Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech on April 3rd 1968, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” he is addressing his audience in reference to the strike that was occurring among sanitation workers. He states “The question is not, ‘If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?’ The question is, ‘If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?’ That’s the question.”
African Americans during the 1960’s had both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X to look up to while enduring their trials and tribulations. In both speeches, they use guilt to try and get their followers to stand up for not only themselves and their rights, but also the rights of those they have no relation to. Through looking at Malcolm X’s speech, the reader could take away the fact that at one point in time people who weren’t white and rich could not vote, so advantage should be taken.
Should people still vote even if they do not like any of the candidates?
In light of the protests going on today, does it appear that history is repeating itself?
Martin Luther King Jr. “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr. Web. 31 Oct. 2016. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm
Whilst both of the texts urged the African American population to fight for their rights, and ultimately for equality, I believe that Malcolm x’s was not simply calling them to vote but to vote in their interest. Malcolm’s stance on the matter was more complex, as he actually had called for violence if African Americans were not given their rights. Whilst he did promote violence as a response to violence, for him here, violence would have been the inevitable outcome of oppression. He also lets the audience know of their role and how they could enact change. This could be seen as a guilt tripping them, as you said, but it can also be seen as informing them of the possible consequences and the gravity of the situation, while letting them know of the power that they had at hand, aka, their votes. A contemporary text illustrating the fact that you had brought up at the beginning ( That many are considering not to vote), would have been a great point to put side by side with your Post.