Free Malcolm X Research Paper Sample

2nd Body:

Black Pride:
Black pride as the name clearly suggests is a movement to help the feeling of pride and satisfaction among the African American or Black community generally anywhere in the world and particularly in the United States of America. Malcolm X along with Martin Luther King Junior was a prominent personality whose life’s work was molded by the “white” man’s atrocities and general bigotry towards the African-Americans. In the United States, this movement was used to celebrate the African American heritage and formed a kind of anti-white prejudice forum. Malcolm X went for the black pride because he believed that the colored people did not come to the United States by their own choice but rather were forced and brought here as slaves and then under slavery they were not only brutally tortured but their pride and identity were soiled in every derogatory manner possible. An identity crisis was instilled in the Black man that made him think of himself as a lowly human being and that affected him deeply and contributed towards his. At one point Malcolm X said “The worst crime the white man has committed has been to teach us to hate ourselves.” (Black Theology and Black Power, 164). As is clear from this quote, in the racially discriminated era of that time, the ‘white man’ made a deliberate attempt to dismantle the ethnic and cultural pride of the black men and trample them not only physically but psychologically and mentally as well. Malcolm X had a very specific ideology of black pride. The black community’s poor social stature demanded that they stay together and resolve their issues with the help of self-reliance before they could integrate well into the society.
With his dominant personality and the moving style of his public speeches and a passion driven activism, Malcolm X was deeply motivated by the rise of the black pride and the general increase in the mobilization of the African Americans. The black pride in the civil rights movement played an important part. Malcolm X believed that it gave African Americans an identity to be proud of. The portraying of whites in an axis of evil manner also meant that the blacks could unite for a common cause for the first time since their forced migration from Africa. Before the black pride took hold in the African American community, the civil rights movement itself was in disarray and faced lack of organization in every aspect. The right wing leaders were just rallying them on the basis of past and present atrocities committed by the white man. But with the introduction of black pride by Malcolm X and other visionary leaders, it became a movement for the conservation of their pride and their rights rather than demanding justice for crimes long ago. Malcolm X was a fiery promoter of black pride and as much that he was despised in the media for criticizing every bit of the system with white majority like the press itself. He was portrayed as an instigator of racial violence. But this coverage also promoted the ideas he had about black pride. Simon, John J in his Article “Malcolm X--His Legacy has pointed out that the print and electronic media portrayed Malcolm X in a very negative and harsh way as it tied to put him on the same stand as other leaders with extreme views. At that time, the civil rights movement was at its peak and the black pride movement was rampant so it was necessary for him to do this bit. He also supported violent means in the true concept of 'an eye for an eye’. This aspect of his beliefs was regularly targeted by the “white press” as this appears to instigate hate. During the civil rights movement, he helped expose the discriminatory practices that were rife in the American society. He helped the black people proactively fight racism by being united and promoting black pride and was sincere with his objectives.

References

Stone 1982, pp. 250, 262–3; Kelley, Robin D. G., "The Riddle of the Zoot: Malcolm Little and Black Cultural Politics During World War II", in Wood 1992, p. 157.
"Civil Rights Act of 1968" full text, US House of Representatives website