Malcolm X

What in trigued you? What angered you? How does this compare to the writing of Martin Luther King, Jr?

The entire passage was about Malcolm X’s life while he was in jail. Malcolm talks about how he learned of Elijah Muhammad and his teachings of “the white man is the devil and the brainwashed black man.” This is a reoccurring phrase throughout the autobiography; similar to the reoccurring phrases “I have a dream and let freedom ring” in Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech. However this is the only thing that is similar between the two. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. had two very different views on how people should fight the problem. Through his communications with Muhammad, Malcolm learned that history had been “whitened” to subjugate the blacks. This was a problem because for all of the blacks in the prison, this is what they believed. They didn’t know any better. This is not surprising because Malcolm says, “even the black professors have known little more than the most ignorant black man” (Pg. 1869) because history had been so “whitened.” Malcolm believes that the whites are nothing but an enemy to the blacks and wants to use violence against them. This is the complete opposite of what King wanted to do; he wanted to solve the problem peacefully. What was interesting was how he brought religion into the problem. His views on religion were so extreme that he blames his violence on it. The way he wants to solve the problem is through violence and he is willing to do anything to get what he wants.