Malcolm X Speech Analysis

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photographs represent only one moment in time, and they can easily be manipulated, through captions or editing, to look like something else. They can be highly biased. It would be easy to assume that this was how Malcolm X was in all situations – calm and in control – but this would not lead one to an accurate portrayal of Malcolm X. All in all, this photograph very directly represents Malcolm X as a “hero”. (SOURCE B) One of Malcolm X’s most powerful speeches was delivered in November 1963, entitled, “A Message to the Grassroots”, and also known as “What is the black revolution?”. It is in favour of Malcolm X being a hero. This is a given fact, because Malcolm X, just like any other leader, would not criticise himself or his methods in public.…show more content…
The second name for the speech immediately reveals to the reader Malcolm X’s belief that violence was necessary in order for black Americans to achieve racial equality to that of whites, which represent one of the most controversial characteristics of Malcolm X and his methods at the time. Malcolm X in this speech criticises white people directly, saying that the time when a white person could manipulate black people into giving them the political vote in order to become a political leader, and then “tell [them] what to do and what not to do”, has ended. He states that the “political philosophy of Black Nationalism only means that [supporters of Black Nationalism] will have to carry on a program, a political program, of re-education to open [African-Americans’] eyes.” He wants the “black man [to] control the politics and the politicians in his own community,” hereby offering up his personal solutions to gaining racial equality in a simple way so that everyone easily understands and will be more likely to support him because of this understanding, as well as because of the convincing way in which he gives these solutions. His use of confrontational language about the white man, as someone who “doesn’t have the good of [African-Americans’] community at heart”; as well as his referring to what were very tender issues of the time, such as racial
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