"The Ballot or the Bullet"

            “The Ballot or the Bullet,” is Malcolm X’s speech from 1964. The year 1964 was an election year, and thus, Malcolm X’s speech calls for black community awareness of the importance of their votes. He emphasizes that his preaching is not anti-white, but rather anti-oppression and anti-exploitation.

            Malcom’s speech is that of a man who is tired of injustices, and his language is that of a common man; a common man who does not consider himself American. “Sitting on a table doesn’t make you a diner, unless you eat some of what’s on the plate. Being here in America doesn’t make you an American” (2). To be an American, a black man should have been able to enjoy everything that America had to offer, and they did not. He finds himself a “victim of Americanism,” a “victim of democracy,” which he describes as “disguised hypocrisy” (3).

            Malcolm X’s speech played an important role for the Civil Rights Movements. It was a call for black unity to fight and finally overcome the white imperialism. He referred to 1964 as the year to become “more politically mature and realize what the ballot is for” (6).  To him, there is only two ways out of this inequality, “the ballot or the bullet.” Therefore, he sees the 1964 election as the breaking point for inequality, and thus, he rises up to Black Nationalism.

            Black Nationalism is, to Malcolm X, a way to express, “Give it to us now. Don’t wait for next year. Give it to us yesterday, and that’s not fast enough” (8). He describes oppression as a crime, because it is prohibiting a person to fully own what belongs to him/her. He asks the black community to demand for what is theirs, through nonviolent actions, “nonviolent as long as the enemy is nonviolent” (15).

            Finally, he reassures that there are only two ways out, and thus, black unity is necessary in order to achieve integration. He advocates partnership with entities that preach Black Nationalism. He calls for awareness and participation because it is the only way that blacks will overcome. “It’ll be the ballot or the bullet. It’ll be liberty or it’ll be death” (14).

M.A.

Nonviolence as Contentious Interaction

            When people think about social movement’s uprisings, people often picture violent scenes, rebels, weapons, and so on. Doug McAdam and Sidney Tarrow, in their piece “Nonviolence as Contentious Interaction,” present us a different strategy of social movements.

            McAdam and Tarrow give different examples of when nonviolence has been a successful way out for different social movements, i.e. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movements. Through nonviolent strategies, groups seek dialogue with the oppositions and in some ways try to find sympathy from society in order to reach their goals.

            Nowadays, with social networks, and brand new technologies, nonviolence protests are more possible. The ability to reach out for people, from around the world, to join a cause, plays an important part in the awareness to many different issues that people would not have known about before. Through social media, dialogue and the constant yearn for social change; a new, better, society could be possible.

M.A.

Ivory Perry and his life in the struggle

            In “A life in the struggle,” George Lipsitz tells the story of an eminent, revolutionary figure, Ivory Perry. Ivory Perry was a civil rights activist in St. Louis. He was a passionate man, who was driven by the needs of the people and the repression that they had to live through. He was known for his radical methods of protests, like lying down on the streets to stop traffic in order to call attention. He was an audacious man willing to do anything to stop injustice.

            Perry was extremely dedicated to his role as an activist, which brought him to experience economic and social difficulties. He lost his family and many different jobs because of his devoted passion to social activism. He was in jailed in many occasions for civil disobedience. This did not stop him from expressing his long yearn desire to stop police brutality and fix housing issues in the black community. Perry worked for the Nineteen Ward Improvement Association, where he was fired, because of his “lack of propriety” (120). He also worked for the Human Development Corporation. He was an important par of the HDC. According to Perry, recognition, of any kind, was not important for him and working for these entities was “useful… but not essential” (120).

            Lipsitz, describes Ivory Perry as an “organic intellectual” (9), which means that Perry lacked the intellectual knowledge of society (he had no formal education) but, he had great “ideas and aspirations” which were all he needed to reach his goals. “Organic intellectuals learn about the world by trying to change it, and they change the world by learning about it from the perspective of the needs and aspirations of their social group” (10). Perry was, without a doubt, an “organic intellectual.”

            Perry was a fascinating man, full of courage and passion. His efforts to reach an egalitarian society were immense. Nevertheless, I am not sure if his extreme misconduct and radical ideologies where efficient, more than they were agitations or plain disturbances.

            

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Struggle-Ivory-Culture-Opposition/dp/1566393213

M.A.