Black On Black Time

Let’s take it back to the old days. Take a moment to recall and show your respects to Martin Luther King and Malcom X, two very prominent African American activists who fought for what they stood for. They had similar goals but such a different approach, both fighting for equality for the black race. Could it be due to their backgrounds that there approach was so disconnected?

Dr. King grew up in a well-educated middle-class family and was well educated, while Malcom grew up in a more hostile underprivileged environment with little to no education. King has always been against violence, standing his ground throughout his whole ministry, maintaining a very Christian standpoint on this situation; being attacked physically yet never reacting with violence. Malcom X on the other hand was a Muslim, strong in faith as well, he believed in fighting back. “By any means necessary,” that was his infamous line. Whatever it took, from protests to bearing arms to even fighting back physically, whatever was necessary in order to gain freedom, Malcom was heavily apart of.

The March took place on August 28, 1963, with over 20,000 people in attendance. The march on Washington was a peaceful march from Washington to the Lincoln Memorial. This even allowed the masses to see the portrayal of different perspectives from respective activists with the same goal in mind. Malcom felt like integration would destroy the black and white man, he thought it was more important for blacks to start by the giving the same race self-respect first. While Dr. King felt all races needed to come together in order to make the violence come to an end for once and for all.

Dr. Kings approach to civil right and equality was one of nonviolence, speaking in non-threatening demeanors or passive resistance is what he called “weapons of love.” Malcolm, on the other hand, had an approach that was considered to be done “by any means necessary due to his suspicions when it came to the white man. Two different dynamics, same goal and the respect remains until this day. Thank you, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Thank you Malcom X for all of your endeavors.

Thank you,

JP