Sputnik Music Forums - Casual Compendium

Out of the all-great black leaders of the American Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s two of them were undoubtedly Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Both were, however radically different yet not completely dissimilar towards the end of the campaign (and ultimately King’s life).
Malcolm X’s early life was blighted by a large number of life shattering problems: firstly his family were often moving around due to large numbers of attacks from white gangs*. He was also the victim of white teachers talking down to him, telling him “to forget about ambitious jobs because he was black” as he told during his autobiography, even though he showed great ability in his early days at school, thus leading him to a lack of ambition and dropping out of school. Due to the same white racists he was deprived of his father who disappeared then was found murdered a few weeks later**, in turn this caused his mother to slowly lose her mental state, culminating in her admittance to an institution in 1937. Left on his own without parents Malcolm Little*** mixed in criminal company turning to a life of crime and drugs such as cocaine. In 1945 he was arrested and imprisoned for theft in 1945 and sentenced to eight years’ hard labour. It was in prison that he met Elijah Muhammad leader/founder of “The Nation Of Islam” from whence X got most of his earlier theories and philosophies.
King had a significantly different upbringing to that of X’s. Firstly as with the rest of his family (which goes on to be reflected in his job as a Pastor when he grew up) King was brought up to be devoutly religious which had a massive impact on his philosophies and aims by which to achieve them. Whilst being in a segregated school King never received any physical abuse from white racists citing the worst he had received was from a woman who smacked him round the head for standing on her dog’s foot. He was from a well-off family with both parents’ throughout his life, and progressed to get a degree and subsequent doctorate from Boston University, before marrying and having children. This goes part of the way to explaining the two leader’s contrasting views due to their radically different experiences of white racism, yet also the more conservative Christian views of King contrasted sharply with the radical Islamic views chosen by Malcolm X.
The Nation Of Islam was fronted by Elijah Muhammad (who was in jail at the same time as Malcolm X for avoiding the war draft) who was not as strict with his own moral principles as of those he demanded of his followers (****). The Nation of Islam had three main principles:
1. The need for black Americans to establish a separate nation in the United States: “….should stand on our own feet and solve problems ourselves instead of depending on White people to solve them for us… non-violence is another word for defenceless”.
2. The need to have pride in their Black and Muslim identity
3. The need to run businesses, shops and services for themselves.
After joining the movement in 1949 Malcolm X swiftly rose through their ranks, and by 1952 he had become their most influential and important spokesperson, so much so that the FBI saw him as a threat to the peace of the country, and ultimately constantly tracked him. Many people saw Malcolm X as a role model, as someone who had seen the worst that the white people had to offer and ultimately worthy of leading the movement, many northern Black people could relate to what he was saying and supported him more than King. This is in stark contrast with King, whilst by far the most popular civil rights leader many (especially in North America) saw him as a southerner with no business in the ghettos of the North*, one of the “black elite”.
Malcolm X asserted that the Civil Rights movement under King were based on the false assumption that integration of black and white peoples was desirable:
“The goal of Dr. King is to give Negroes a chance to sit in a segregated restaurant beside the same White folks who have persecuted, beaten and
lynched Black people for years. Dr. King seems to want black people to
forgive the people who have beaten, bought, sold and lynched our people
for four hundred years.”
He saw the ghetto conditions of many Blacks, as dehumanising yet did not think integration of the two races was the way forward and thought that they should be allowed to shape their own destiny in a separate black state without interference from the White racist’s. He concluded that this was certainly not going to be achieved via “turning the other cheek”. However this was only his earlier view on how to solve problems**.
Martin Luther King’s early philosophy was drastically different to that of Malcolm X’s, yet comparatively was heavily influenced by his religion of choice, his oratory skills were also vastly improved thanks to his work as a parishioner. One of his main influences was that of Indian peace-keeper Mahatma Ghandi, King realised that change could be made on a drastic scale by few using non-violent methods and longed to try it: “the Christian doctrine of love operating through the Ghandian method of non-violence was one of the most potent weapons available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.” This was also in keeping with his relgion and “love thy neighbour” commandments. Yet it was not until December 1st 1955 that he got a chance to put his newfound theory into action with the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In brief the black people of the community started a resistance against the bus services in the town of Montgomery after NAACP*** secretary Rosa Parks refused to get out of her seat on the bus for a white man, thrown off the bus and prosecuted. King organised the boycott, which lasted for almost a year, and also was involved in organising car pools and forms of transport for those involved. Almost a year to the day after starting the authorities submitted, de-segregating public transport, King was now catapulted to the very forefront of the Civil Rights movement with this landmark verdict and his philosophy was followed by millions. King argued often that non-violence did not make a cowardly protestor, they were just as passionate as a violent protestor: “his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade the opponent that he is mistaken.
He stated that the point of non-violent resistance is not to humiliate him (although he succeeded in doing this, especially in Birmingham, Alabama where they were attacked viciously and succeeded in shocking much of America into action) but to gain their understanding. He continued saying that protests were “the means to awaken a sense of moral shame in the opponent” resulting in redemption rather than bitterness caused by violent methods. He continued further by saying that this was not a battle of individuals, but that equality was a fight for justice and freedom of all: “between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. And if there is a victory it will be a victory not merely for fifty thousand Negroes, but a victory for justice and the forces of light." Resulting in tension between good and evil rather than races or people*. He elaborated on his point however by stating that non-violent protestors must be prepared to suffer, and continued that this led to “tremendous educational and transforming possibilities”. The final part of King’s main philosophy was the most religious stating that “the universe was on the side of justice” and ultimately the side of non-violence due to their “cosmic companionship with God”.
Malcolm X initially thought to hinder King’s civil rights movement by utterly rejecting his ideals thus bringing tension and segregation among the movement, this does not mean that his ideas were necessarily entirely terrible for the movement as it instilled a sense of pride in Black Americans and made them willing to work for a change to their lives. However King himself later began to question his non-violent methods, especially after the bombing of a church in Birmingham shortly after his protests in which 4 your girls died. The events in Chicago shortly before his assassination deeply affected him also when he saw his protests turn to violence. However, undeniably his campaigns were vital for alerting authorities (especially Federal authorities) to the abuse taking place in the cities, however in the more Northern cities Malcolm X’s more contrasting views had more impact due to the North-South divide of America. For instance King did not realise quite how severely racist the North was, when he experienced this he too moved closer to Malcolm X’s own views, especially after the Chicago protests.