At a time when racial prejudice and social injustice were at their height in the United States, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X gave speeches on the pilgrimage to violence and a warning to the grassroots, respectively. (Gundlach). They stood in for the underdog race—African Americans, who had long endured discrimination and other crimes. There are some similarities and variations between the two people's messages. (Gundlach). The two lectures discuss the liberation of African Americans from racial oppression using violence and nonviolence, respectively. Martin Luther King advocates for nonviolence while Malcolm X speaks and advice individuals to choose violence if provoked in the quest for liberation.
The two speeches have their background based on religious teaching. As Martin Luther King and Malcolm X deliver their speeches to the two groups against and for violence respectively, they refer to the bible. Martin Luther King talks much about how vital Agape love is (Gundlach). On the other hand, Malcolm uses the Koran to validate the essence of fighting back should one feel that his or her life is in danger. Malcolm X acknowledges that people should be intelligent, peaceful, and respectful of the law only if they receive the qualities of the society that they live in (Little).
The two speeches seek to achieve a common interest, which is the liberation of the African Americans from racial discrimination, which was primarily fuelled by the whites. They two make it clear that they have a common enemy and they have to fight it until they achieve freedom (Little). Martin Luther King talks about nonviolence as the best tool that the African Americans have to use to make the whites understand that they are as well important and deserve to have their rights observed.
The speech by Martin Luther King is peaceful whereas Malcolm X's voice is insightful in the in their quest for liberation. The former gives an elaborate speech beginning with what happened to him when he was in Montgomery. He provides an account of who a nonviolent resister is and the bounds that he or she should not cross whatsoever. He even states that that one should not only observe the external non-violence but also resist internal violence such as hate. Malcolm X's speech on the other hand insights people to deal with the problems that affect them by facing them head-on (Little). He goes ahead to state that an individual who puts his or her hands on the other's should be sent to the cemetery. The peaceful nature of Martin Luther's speech proves that he advocates for nonviolence in the quest for justice whereas Malcolm X chooses violence as the only way towards achieving justice that the two aspire.
The speech by Martin Luther King targets the injustice and not the individual castigating it whereas Malcolm's X's speech targets the individual who chastises injustice to the African Americans (Little). In the statement, Martin Luther states that nonviolence is often against evil and not the person causing the evil. The implication is that nonviolence is not concerned with the person perpetuating evil who in this case are the whites but fights to make sure that the injustice is out of America (Little). On the other hand, Malcolm X, in his speech, has a feeling that the evil is within the person causing it and eliminating it would only mean dealing with the person castigating it. It is because of the belief that Malcolm says that an individual who puts his or her hands on the others should be sent to the cemetery.
Malcolm X's Message to the Grass Root uses an analogy to deliver the information about the importance of liberation whereas Martin Luther's Pilgrimage of Nonviolence is straightforward. The analogy used by Malcolm X deals with the two kinds of slaves from the Negro community. He talks about how good things are for the house Negro and the opposite for the field Negro, he then makes a comparison that the African Americans are the house Negros and stresses the need for liberation (Little). Martin Luther's speech is more of a teaching, and he tells the people what is expected of them if they use nonviolence boycotts to fight their war.
In conclusion, the significant similarity between the two speeches is that they touch on the liberation of the African Americans from racial oppression. Additionally, they share a similarity on the use of religious teachings to convey the information to the people. The significant difference is that the information by Martin Luther King is entirely peaceful and advocates for no use of violence to fight the war against oppression. On the other hand, Malcolm X chooses violence to deal with the situation that the Negros are in for he believes that it is the right way. Amid the similarity and the differences, the two individuals work jointly to achieve the freedom and Justice of the African Americans.
Works Cited
Gundlach, Lissa. "Martin Luther King's Pilgrimage To Non-Violence." Alternet, 2017, https://www.alternet.org/martin-luther-kings-pilgrimage-non-violence.
Little, Malcolm. "Message To The Grass Roots." Xroads.Virginia.Edu, 2017, http://xroads.virginia.edu/~public/civilrights/a0147.html.
