Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

After reading about Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., in Chapter 3, I thought to myself what would have happened if they had not been assassinated? Would the world be a better place for African Americans today? or Would it be the same?
Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. Angela WMarch 4, 2009 at 3:37 PM

    We do tend to forget, largely because of the way the message and image of both men has been co-opted by so many political voices, how much King and Malcolm had in common in their experiences as leaders and speakers analyzing American society, and how much they were moving toward a common vision of liberation--away from class and racial privilege (even if they were not quite ready to deal with gender privilege) as the determinant of political, social and economic power. By the time of his assassination in February 1965, Malcolm's pilgrimage to Mecca had caused him to change his rhetoric about white devils to analysis of the racism at the center of our major social institutions. When King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968, he was there to speak out in support of striking black garbage collectors who were being paid less than whites, although they were all unionized city employees, and he was also making public speeches criticizing our national involvement in Vietnam. He had also started to ask what good is it to be able to sit and eat at a lunch counter if you don't have the money to pay for the hamburger. I would much rather have had them living out their natural lives, then have their faces on a postage stamp.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)