Martin and Malcolm: comparing two civil rights leaders

Malcolm

Martin Luther King was born to the Reverend Martin Luther King and Mr. Martin Luther King in the year 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was their first-born son and was named after his father. The young Martin Luther King, or simply ML, as he came to be known, lived with his parents and siblings and grandparents and uncles and aunts and their various boarders in their home in Georgia. The Ebenezer Baptist Church was just two blocks away from the young ML's home, and it was from this Church where his father was the pastor, that ML imbibed most of his feelings about Christian love, and of tolerance and equality and of non-violence. (Martin Luther King Jr. National Park Service)

It is a fact that a man's experiences in life influence his thinking to a great extent, and this is true in the case of Martin Luther King, Jr. too. By the year 1935, when he was just six years old, he learnt that there was in fact something different about him, because he was prohibited from playing with the neighborhood children. What he did not know at the time was that it was because of the color of his skin that this discrimination was taking place. In 1947 Martin Luther King, Jr. was ordained a Minister, and became a Pastor of his own Church in Alabama in the year 1954. Soon Martin Luther King, Jr. started to become in the political affairs of his state, and the boycott against buses was implemented in Alabama in 1954. By 1963 it was apparent that this person was a great leader when he led a march to Washington up to the Lincoln Memorial and gave his famous speech "I have a Dream" from the steps of the Memorial. Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1964, and when he was assassinated in the year 1968, the whole world lost a great leader and a great person when he died. (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Malcolm X was born as Malcolm Little to Louis Norton Little and 'Earl Little' in the year 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He had a number of siblings, and his father was an outspoken Baptist Minister and a great believer in the principles and beliefs of Marcus Garvey who was an avid Civil Rights activist. Earl became a Civil Rights activist himself and this was the reason the family was faced with a number of death threats that forced them to re locate quite a few times over the years. When in 1929 their home in Lansing was burned down and Earl was found burnt completely in the debris, the family underwent severe trauma, and Louis Earl was institutionalized after a mental breakdown. The children were sent to various foster homes and orphanages, and though Malcolm was a bright student who was doing well in his studies, a teacher made a comment that made him drop out of school. This was that Law School was 'no place for a nigger'. (Biography of Malcolm X)

The disillusioned Malcolm became involved in a life of committing crimes and organizing a drug ring and a prostitution racket in Harlem, New York. When Malcolm was arrested and jailed in 1946, his brother Reginald visited him there, and this became a turning point for the young Malcolm. This was because Reginald confessed to having converted himself to the Nation of Islam. Malcolm was impressed and also intrigued, and soon he set about studying the teachings of the Nation of Islam Leader, Elijah Muhammad. This leader had written his impressions about the society in general. Some of his thoughts were that the white man was keen on his goal that the African-American would not rise to achieve any sort of political or economic or even social success in his life; the white was preventing the African-American from self-fulfillment by denying him his basic rights of self-empowerment. (Biography of Malcolm X)

Elijah Mohammed also stated that the situation would only be improved if the African-American had a separate state of his own, separate from the states where the white man was living. These teachings impressed the young and impressionable Malcolm greatly, and soon he became a devoted follower of these teachings. This was the reason that Malcolm changed his surname from Little, which he thought was a slave's name, to 'X' that he thought was indicative of his clan and tribe in Africa. After his release from prison, Malcolm X became the official spokesperson and the Minister of the Nation of Islam. He set about building mosques all over the United States of America, and the teachings of Islam spread all over the country. People flocked to him in hordes, and there were more than 30,000 members of the Nation of Islam in the year 1963. (Biography of Malcolm X)

When in 1963, Malcolm discovered that his mentor Elijah was not what he said he was; he was carrying on secret relationships with a number of women, Malcolm was disheartened, and founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. when he visited Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Malcolm was astonished at the change he saw in himself; he declared that he could actually call the 'blue eyed blonde haired men' he was co-existing with, his 'brothers'. This completely changed his outlook on life, and Malcolm soon began preaching the message of integration to the African-American. In the year 1965, Malcolm was shot dead on a stage in Manhattan where he was speaking. With his death, the world lost another great leader. (Biography of Malcolm X)

Some of the thoughts of Martin Luther King Jr. that reveal his support of the civil rights Movement and of the need for World Peace and Justice for all are: "True Peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of Justice," and "With non-violent resistance...nor need anyone resort to violence in order to right a wrong." (Words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) These words sum up the great leader's feelings in an accurate and precise manner. From the year 1956 until his death by assassination in the year 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the world leaders in the issues pertaining to the granting of equality and justice to all Black Americans through the methods of non-violence and other similar methods. His father being a Minister was able to influence him in several matters, including the necessity of learning to maintain self-respect and dignity in the face of adversity, especially because he happened to belong to the community of the African-American people living in America at that time, who were oppressed beyond belief by the 'whites'. (Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement)

It was when he was studying at the Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania that Martin Luther King Jr. happened to listen to some lectures by AJ Muste and by Mordecai Johnson. The lecture on Gandhi and the methods of non-violence that he was using to fight against oppression in his country, India, impressed him to a great extent. This caused him to go out and buy several books on Gandhi immediately. As Martin Luther King Jr. was already familiar with Thoreau's teachings on Civil Disobedience in his essays on the same subject, the teachings of both Thoreau and Gandhi combined to create in him a feeling that it was indeed possible to fight an evil force and survive it by following the methods of non-violence being advocated by both the leaders. While Thoreau helped him in his conviction that he could oppose evil, Gandhi convinced him that it was possible to do so with non-violent methods, and that his own love of Jesus could be extended beyond the single individual and be applied towards solving the tensions between nations and groups on account of races and colors. (Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement)

It was with this feeling of goodness and hopes for peace and the attainment of social justice for his own people that made Martin Luther King Jr. accept a pastorate in Alabama. Soon after he had accepted the posting and settled down in his duties, certain incidents of racial discrimination came to light. These were that a person of African descent would have to give up their seat in the bus for a white man, whether the former was old and tired or a child. When Mrs. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man because she was in fact too tired, she was arrested and put in jail. This incident prompted Martin Luther King Jr. To organize and start the boycott of the buses on one Monday in December 1955. The system of boycott was in fact an adaptation of the non-violent methods being advocated by Gandhi in India. Martin Luther King Jr. was convinced, as a leader, that it was possible to oppose evil forces with this method of non-co-operation that had been advocated by Thoreau. The boycott went off as planned and all the buses were empty except for a few white passengers who did not want to take part in the boycott.

A few thousand people gathered at the venue that evening, and when Dr. Martin Luther King took up the mike and spoke that he was 'tired' of being discriminated against and segregated all the time and that it was time to start changing. The principles to use, he stated were those of non-violence and non-co-operation, and these would bring about justice and freedom for his people who were undergoing constant humiliations at every step in their lives. Persuasion, and not coercion, and Christian love, and a basic desire to listen to one's own conscience and act according to the dictates of the conscience must be the motto to be followed, he said, and this would bring about more results than those of violence and bloodshed. During his speech, Martin Luther King Jr. stated that if his people would protest against these constant indignities with courage, and not with violence, with Christian dignity and love for the fellow being, then his people would be recognized in history at a later stage as a people that gave civilization new meaning and new dignity. (Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement)

The demands put across by Martin Luther King at this particular mass meeting were that bus operators would treat all Negroes courteously, that all passengers would be seated on a first come first served basis, and that more Negro drivers would be employed on routes where there were more Negroes. Soon after this incident, he wrote a book entitled 'Stride towards Freedom' wherein he advocated the methods of Christian love and non-violence that guided him throughout the time when he was opposing the treatment of his people in buses. It was soon after this that he started to hold weekly meetings to advocate these methods. He stated that it is a fact that 'hate begets hate', and that hate must be countered with love, and that an individual must be able to meet physical force with the strength and force of the soul within him. Therefore, he stated, it is imperative that the Negro must learn never to humiliate a white man as he would humiliate the black, but to learn to befriend him and win his understanding.

This, he said was the true method of fighting oppressive forces. When his fellow Negroes raised doubts about the virtues of the methods of non-violence, Martin Luther King explained, in his book, that non-violence was not a method of cowardice, as was believed by some, who could not believe that a method that did not involve the presence of bloodshed and tears would work in nay manner, though the method would seem to be extremely passive, it was only physically so; it was spiritually active, and only those who were courageous enough to be able to stand up for their rights would be able to use these methods. Non-violence also did not seek to defeat the opponent; in fact, it sought to arrive at a level of understanding that would eventually create the 'beloved community' where everywhere there would be peace and harmony. Another point to be remembered, he said, is that non-violence opposed the forces of evil, and not the perpetrators of the evil. (Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement)

In other words, the white man who was carrying out injustice on the black man must not be hated; it is the principle of injustice that must be eliminated. Non-violence also involved the principle that the person against whom the injustice was being meted out would be ready to accept his suffering without retaliating with violence, and eventually, love would replace hatred in their minds. The hope and faith that justice would be achieved is one of the core principles of the method of non-violence that were taught to the Negroes of the United States of America of the time by Martin Luther King. When miscreants bombed Martin Luther King's house, his family escaped unhurt. However, a furious mob of blacks had gathered outside his house and was threatening to retaliate with similar violence. This was when Martin Luther King demonstrated his capacity for tolerance and non-violence. He merely said that violence must be met with non-violence, and hate with love. These words actually helped to prevent a lot of bloodshed and a very real threat of a bloody riot was eliminated.

A year after the boycott of the buses, they were integrated, and this made Martin Luther King a world-renowned personality, and soon after, he joined forces with Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttles worth, and CK Steele to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. It was immediately after this that he tried to persuade the President Eisenhower to organize a conference on Civil Rights at the White House, and when this attempt failed, he organized a 'Prayer Pilgrimage of Freedom' to discuss the issues of freedom and civil rights. This meeting drew almost thirty-seven people in a march to the Lincoln Memorial on May 17, 1957, in Washington. The demand that was made by the blacks was that of the right to participate more in the legislative process of America, by being able to vote. When Martin Luther King happened to visit India in the year 1959, he became even more convinced in the inherent success in the methods of non-violence that had been advocated by Gandhi in his freedom struggle against British oppression, and that led to the attainment of independence for India from the English in the year 1947, when the British were forced to withdraw their troops from that country and clear out, lock, stock, and barrel. (Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement)

By 1960 more and more people were coming to believe that it was possible to fight against evil by using non-violent methods and Satyagraha. This was how students were able to take part in the movement against oppression, by organizing several sit-ins at lunch counters in their schools to protest against discrimination. The 'Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee was formed, and when these students and Martin Luther King sat at a lunch counter in a store in North Atlanta, he was arrested. Freedom Riders were formed in 1961, and soon the civil rights movement reached remote areas where there had been no such movements in the past. In 1962, at a civil disobedience campaign where there was a lot of violence and stone throwing at the policemen, Martin Luther King announced his displeasure and called for one day of penitence and a lot of prayer meetings through which the methods of non-violence could be preached as one way of being close to Jesus.

Martin Luther King felt that non-violence was a method in which certain repressed emotions that may lead to violence would come out and become dissipated, and this led to the popularity of his teachings wherein he was able to organize several campaigns for the young, and he was able to lead them on 'Freedom Walks', very peaceful demonstrations of protests. In each and every instance where he was the leader, justice triumphed, and evil was vanquished; not the evildoer or the perpetrator. For example, in1964, the 'Voters Rights Bill was signed by which Negroes had a right to vote, a historic first. What was even more surprising and pleasing was that more and more whites had come to realize that they were indeed accessories to the crimes of discriminations against the blacks of their country, and this is where success tasted the sweetest for Martin Luther King. After he received the Nobel Prize, in the year 1968 he was shot to death, and thus ended an era of good leadership to fight against injustices. (Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement)

When Malcolm X embraced Islam and later discovered that his master was in fact a hypocrite, he was quite disillusioned. However, after his visit to Mecca where he discovered that he would in fact be able to love whites as his brothers, he underwent a tremendous change in his thinking. He became willing to follow the type of principles being advocated by Martin Luther King, when he was shot down. Thus, both these leaders were martyrs, and it was this very fact that has served to make them popular over these previous years. Quite a few people associate both the men with the martyrdom of Jesus Christ himself, since both gave up their lives for an important cause. The followers of Martin Luther King were from the middle class of African-Americans, whereas the followers of Malcolm X were from the lower class ghettos. (Malcolm Little X (1925-1965))