Malcolm X's Famous Speech, the Ballot or

¶ … Malcolm X's famous speech, The Ballot or the Bullet, and the thoughtful essay, Why Women Smile, by Amy Cunningham are very similar in their objectives, but rather different in their tones. Malcolm X's speech sought to stir the African-American population into fierce action against those who would limit their civil rights. Amy Cunningham softly pointed out the social expectation for women to smile, with a suggestion that perhaps this stereotype should change.

While Malcolm X's speech is fierce, and Cunningham's essay is soft, there are still incredibly subtle hints of an opposing tone in each work. The Ballot or the Bullet, although rigorous against whites, also seems to contain hints of compromise; Why Women Smile, while a gentle expression of dissatisfaction, also suggests an abrupt reversal in the role of women. Despite the fact that the speech made by Malcolm X seems blatantly anti-white, it is also riddled with suggestions of diplomacy and cooperation between the races.

Primarily, he blames "the white man" (X) for the segregation of races and the oppression of the black community. But more specifically, and perhaps more heavily, he treats the blacks' lack of civil rights as a political issue. He declares that they are not faced with a "segregationist conspiracy" but instead "with a government conspiracy" and that "It is the government itself. that is responsible for the oppression and exploitation and degradation of black people in this country" (X).

It is along this basis that the speech suggested it was time for negroes to either take some responsibility by either voting-in civil-rights activists, or using force (the bullet) to protest the degradation of their community. Therefore, this speech itself seems less of a threat to the white community as a whole and more of a threat on the government and its officials (though run by whites), who are filibustering the issues and gerrymandering the districts.

Malcolm X also refers to anyone and everyone who may be willing to help the black community as friends. He is willing to "work with anybody, anywhere, at any time, who is genuinely interested in tackling the problem head-on" (X). He further clarifies his point by assuring his audience that "it doesn't mean that we're anti-white, but it does mean that we're anti-exploitation, we're anti-degradation, we're anti-oppression" (X).

Malcolm X is pointing to the fact that he does not want to be an enemy to "the white man," but simply wants to be allowed his full rights, and he will oppose anyone who threatens them, and "the white man" just happened to be restricting him at that time. He seems happy to cooperate with anyone, of whatever color, if they are willing to help with his cause.

A last bit of hope is made evident when he declares that "if the white man doesn't want us to be anti-him, let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us," (X). Malcolm X seems to make it all too clear, despite his apparently threatening message, that complete cooperation and a life lived in peace and harmony among the races will be made perfectly possible the moment that the black community no longer feels threatened by the white community.

While the speech made by Malcolm X strongly demands change, the essay by Amy Cunningham takes a more passive approach, although she does, in the end, drop hints about women's rise above their age-old stereotype. In Why Women Smile, Cunningham takes a somewhat analytical approach that is mingled with a keen message of dissatisfaction. "The Smiling Woman has become a peculiarly American archetype" (Cunningham), she says, despite the fact that smiles frequently indicate anything but happiness.

She warns that women smile because they are expected to smile, and sometimes, "smiles are not the small and innocuous things they appear to be" (Cunningham). Going on to explain, she notes that people may smile when they are embarrassed, depressed, scared, or angry, and that the reason people smile when experiencing these emotions is out of a social pressure to do so (Cunningham).

Throughout the essay, Cunningham continues to explain the historical, social, and cultural significance of the American Woman's Smile, while gently hinting at the fact that perhaps women should "lower the wattage a bit" on those bright, toothy smiles (Cunningham). Later on, the tone becomes more austere and warning when she notes that "women have yet to unilaterally declare their faces their own property" (Cunningham), which evinces the author's attitude of resentment.

Perhaps the most obvious change in tone comes in one of the final paragraphs, where she lists the changes that are coming to women's independence. She cites a rise in "assertive female comedians" who seem confrontationally to "dish-out smiles," actresses who refuse to take smiling roles, and a series of new Nike commercials that depict women working hard and sweating like any man (Cunningham). Cunningham describes these women as the opposite of "nice' girls," which may be to say that they are, in fact, bad girls.

Cunningham's is an essay written nicely to explain how nicely women are expected to act in society, but she does not close.