Martin Luther King Jr And Malcolm X Comparison Essay

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Martin Luther King and Malcolm X: Hopeful and Hopeless
Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were, without a doubt, two of the most influential people of the twentieth century. As racial tension in the United States came to a peak in the 1960’s, both men emerged as powerful, religiously motivated activists fighting for African American rights. While there are many differences between King and Malcolm X, both men looked to their religious beliefs to inform their political views and used the past traditions of their respective faiths to address the issue of civil rights in America. This paper will explore King’s hope in the love of God to promote a nonviolent solution to racism while Malcolm X’s belief in the Oneness of God and humanity left him desperate, answering violence with violence.
Just like every man, King and Malcolm X were the product of their upbringing. Both were the sons of politically active fathers. King’s father was a prominent Baptist minister that fought for the rights of black teachers in …show more content…
However, where King found hope in his vision for African Americans, Malcolm X came up hopeless and desperate. King wholeheartedly believed in the power of the love of God to bring change through nonviolent resistance. But when Malcolm X returned from his religious awakening he stated: “despite the fact that I saw that Islam was a religion of brotherhood, I also had to face reality. And when I got back into this American society, I'm not in a society that practices brotherhood.” Malcolm X did not believe that it was possible for the American people to accept the Oneness of God and man, despite his attempts to present them with the basic tenants of the tradition. This fact left him so hopeless that he was forced to promote violence within the Civil Rights
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