Malcolm X

Arguments in The Chickens have Come Home to Roost

1) Americas troubles, including the assassination of JFK, are the direct effect of its support of
slavery and colonialism. Racism is at the heart of the American character, thus it is simply getting
its due.
2) We can see a clear pattern in world history: Every society ever built on slavery has fallen at the
hands of violent revolution.
3) The dark world (including all people of color) is rising again. Islam is the best vehicle for this
reawakening.
4) To defend their supremacy Whites have used two strategies against the Nation of Islam. First, they
call those blacks who are fighting for dignity, self-determination, or who dare criticize whites
racists--implying that anyone who does not support a color-blind orientation to race, which only
leaves White supremacy unchallenged, since whites possess all of the wealth and poweras a
means of separating the civil rights struggle into two camps, putting each against each other.
Second, in conjunction with the first strategy, powerful Whites work with the elite members of the
civil rights movement, including King, who had access to JFK and LBJ. They will make them
promises, but only if they turn against the Nation of Islam.
5) The only way for true Black empowerment, for an end to white supremacy, is for all to join
together under nation of Islam, and abort negotiations with Whites.
Arguments in Ballot or Bullet
This speech is given after his return from Mecca, where he had a change of heart about King, and was now
willing to work with anyone including Whites, who was willing to end white supremacy. He has just begun
to be excommunicated for the nation of Islam.
1) Malcolm calls for unity amongst all blacks, across religious and political lines. All suffer from
oppression; all suffer at the hand of the White man. None of us are treated as citizens, as
Americans, but rather we are all victims of America. Thus, all can unite as anti-exploitation, antidegradation, anti-discrimination.
2) The political process has failed Blacks. The Democratic Party is corrupt, it pretends to represent
Blacks, but in the end the party is beholden to racists and is full of cowards. Blacks should pull
their support from the party and force them to either stand up publicly for civil rights or lose
power.
3) 1964 is the tuning point. Blacks will either be afforded genuine freedom or we will turn to
violence. This violence, however, will not be illegal or immoral. Those withholding genuine
freedom from Blacks are criminals and should be treated as such. Moreover, Whites are using
violence against Blacks who simply demand to be given their constitutional rights. It would not be
illegal to defend yourself against a criminal; it is not immoral to act reciprocally, to use violence in
self-defense.
4) The civil rights struggle must be understood as a struggle for human rights. That is, Blacks must
take the struggle beyond the jurisdiction of the US and appeal directly to the UN. The US
government is in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and should be held
accountable. By internationalizing the struggle Blacks will be able to join with other oppressed
groups. By going to the UN Blacks will be able to join forces with other nations to fight back
against the US, exposing the nation as hypocritical and be able to use that shame as political
leverage.
5) The White man is weak, he is vulnerable. Korea and Vietnam have shown that he cant win a
guerilla war, a war that is fought tactically by a fiercely committed people. Thus, Blacks too can
use the tactics of guerilla warfare. For instance, Blacks should use their vote like a bullet,
withdraw from any party and vote as a bloc when it will have the most effect.
6) All those in the civil rights movement really agree with the tenants of Black Nationalism, it is
professed in black churches and taught by other civil rights organizations. Politically it simply
means the demand for genuine freedom and the refusal to let whites control how fast it will come.

Economically it means that Blacks should control their own economy, to own business and only
shop in Black owned businesses. Socially it means that Blacks must eradicate the destructive vices
which weaken their moral fiber and make them dependent. In essence, Black Nationalism means
that Blacks should not depend on whites to solve their problems, to give them freedom, they will
never do that. There is a White Nationalism, which goes unnoticed because it does not have to
announce itself, but it is evident in the white church and the articulation of Christianity with white
supremacy. Thus, we need our own gospel of Black Nationalism.
7) The real meaning of segregation is not separation, but the ability to control ones own schools,
business, and neighborhoods. Whites are not segregated, but integrated because they control both
their own resources and those of blacks. Whites are terrified of real segregation, because if Blacks
did control their own resources it would entail less power for whites. Whites would come to covet
Blacks and would demand integration.
8) He concludes by returning to the theme of the ballot or bullet. Either LBJ will declare himself and
the Democratic Party fully behind civil rights or Blacks will be forced to defend themselves with
arms. It is within their constitutional rights to do so.
The differences between Kings and Malcolm Xs ideal of equality
In the rhetoric of abolition and civil rights, we see two different ways of understanding what it means to be
equal. And these two different ways of defining equality are exemplified in MLK and Malcolm X.
For King equality meant a formal sameness between two entities, such that each was ultimately
indistinguishable from and interchangeable with the other. In other words, King consistently argued that
true equality would come when we transcended race and thought of ourselves as one people, a common
humanity. Thus in I have a Dream he speaks of the nation as one people united in their love of God, moving
towards a time when all children will join hands without regard to their differences, and that we will be
judged not by the color of our skin, but the content of our character.
Thus for King the task was to vivify the promise of equality as sameness found in the DOI and the bible,
fusing them together into a single profession of faith. Kings rhetoric worked by invoking an image of what
it meant to be an American, to be dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, and claimed
that if we were indeed to truly live within that identity we would resolve the contradiction between our
creed and our deeds.
Hence, while Kings demands were met with a great deal of resistance in the south they were heard as
being completely consistent with the dominant cultures ideal of equality. So King could become a cultural
hero.
For Malcolm X equality did not mean sameness at all. Rather, he defined equality as a commitment to a
relationship of equivalence between two or more clearly separate entities, each which has its own unique
identity but is similarly powerful. In other words, Malcolm X consistently argued that true equality would
be achieved when blacks and whites possess equal power, when each group could control their own
resources and could not be forced to submit to the demands of the other. Thus in the Ballot or the Bullet he
speaks of a strong, self assured black community in control of their own resources and thus can define for
themselves what it means to be black. He argues that true equality can only come with the ballot, equal
amounts of political power, or the bullet, equal amounts of physical force.
Thus, the task for Malcolm was to show how the promise of equality in the DOI, the promises of equal
opportunity in the constitution, and in the White mans interpretation of the bible was a sham designed to
rob Blacks of power.
Malcolm X was always heard as speaking against the dominant interpretation of equality; he was always
treated as a threat and vilified.