Extract from The Ballot or The Bullet by Malcolm X.
The text presented is an extract from Malcolm X’s (1925-1965) speech called The Ballot or the Bullet delivered on April 3rd, 1964. Malcolm X, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist in the work frame of political and social values such as inequality, hegemonic power, and alterity. Furthermore, the extract associates with the conventions of a political speech such as the use of rhetorical devices, slogans, emotive language and rhetoric that is sculpted to persuade and inform the target audience regarding a political and social issue. Relating to the extract of The Ballot or the Bullet, Malcolm applies a variety of rhetorical devices and literary techniques as well as societal, and political events to appeal to his target audience. Henceforth, the purpose of this political speech is to advocate black rights and persuade the philosophy of black nationalism towards the “young generation” of black community voters by illustrating how future blockage of African American equality demands violence. Through the use of various rhetorical devices and structural conventions, Malcolm develops a persuasive text which calls for action in his political speech amongst the African American society during the Civil Rights era.
Considering the advocacy of African American equality, rights and the black nationalism philosophy that is exemplified in the extract, Malcolm implies that the target audience are individuals from the black society. This is evident in Malcolm’s references of “colonial power” in America, illustrating the “second-class citizenship” due to slavery. This is also evident regarding his perspective on approaching “nationalism to remove colonialism.” Malcolm refers to the audience as “you” and “us,” inferring that the audience are “22 million Afro-Americans here in this country”. Furthermore, in his introductory paragraph, Malcolm stresses that “black nationalism is a self-help philosophy… that eliminates the necessity for division and argument”. Malcolm displays this division by expressing that black nationalism is present in all black individuals and exemplifies a culture of acceptance, including specific references to those who go to “church,” are “atheist” or take part in “any kind of civic organization.” It is also evident that Malcolm specifically targets his audience to the “new generation” such as “a young black man.” In his concluding statements, Malcolm illustrates the failure of previous African American equality. This is evident in his references to “our people are disillusioned. They’ve become disenchanted. They’ve become dissatisfied, and in their frustrations they want action… old Uncle Tom action is outdated”. This is contrasted to his references of the “young generation” that “don’t want to hear anything about the odds against us.” This infers the cultural values that his target audience celebrates and respects his aim of “doing some standing, and some fighting to back that up.” It is a culture of advocating human rights and voicing their stance in political discredit. It also infers that his speech is directly targeting African American individuals of a low to middle-class socioeconomic status in their early 20s-30s. From this analysis, it can be concluded that the political speech aims to call for action on African American equality and political justice.
Malcolm achieves this purpose of political justice through illuminating the content of the cultural and historical context. Malcolm unfolds his speech with a justification of the “self-help philosophy,” illustrating its elimination of “division and argument” to attract all members of the black society. He then conveys the importance of change in “your philosophy” and “thought pattern” to further motivate his beliefs which persuades the audience through moral values. To ground this persuasive moral concept, Malcolm introduces the history of independence in Asia and Africa through “the philosophy of nationalism.” Furthermore, he recalls and compares the history of previous independent nations such as Asia and Africa as well as marches to exemplify the urgency of a call for action in 1964. While Malcolm introduces his aim in the first paragraph, he further develops this argument through these historical events which support his idea of voicing political justice and equality to his target audience. Henceforth, through the use of pathos and logos, the audience carries a direct emotion of responsibility to take action towards Malcolm’s advocacy. Moreover, the content of the text re-enforces and establishes the fundamental themes present in the political speech. The main ideas that are continuously demonstrated are those of equality, responsibility, unity and urgency. This is evident in his continuous use of diction such as “independence,” “hypocritical colonial power” and “attitude.” Hence, as Malcolm attempts to appeal to his target audience, he links sensitive and emotional history to further spark urgency and call for action in his society.
Within Malcolm’s approach, the overall tone that is present is one of urgency and unity. As Malcolm highlights the importance of change, he achieves this by claiming petty to those who “are black” and “not thinking black at this late date,” Furthermore, he claims that “today, our people are disillusioned. They’ve become disenchanted. They’ve become dissatisfied, and in their frustrations they want action”. Through expressing and voicing the painful emotions of his community, he reaches his climatic statement by stating “And in 1964 you’ll see this young black man, this new generation asking for the ballot or the bullet.” This didactic and preachy tone carefully balances with the success to call for action within the extract. Subsequently, the tone leads to a mood of rebellious hope and action that is evident in his concluding statement “the young generation don’t want to hear anything about the odds… What do we care about odds?” Henceforth, the overall tone and mood further stimulate the purpose, through developing his audience’s emotions towards the urgent movement of their Civil Rights.
Malcolm also employs rhetorical devices to further stimulate the purpose of his political speech. As mentioned earlier, Malcolm refers to his target audience as “they” and “us.” The use of personal pronouns leads the audience to associate with his decision making, setting a role model for society. This use of inclusive diction enhances the audience’s attention to the speaker and also stimulates direct action from the younger generation. In addition, Malcolm uses hypophora such as “What’s is so good about it?” and “What goes with it?” to gain direct attention from the audience without diverting the listener’s focus. As this is followed with parallelism of the answer to the question, it allows the audience to link back to their cultural and communal values and beliefs and eliminate any misunderstanding between the speaker and the audience. Throughout the speech, Malcolm also applies rhetorical devices such as chiasmus, repetition, and symploce to establish rhythm. By repeating words such as “Once you change,” “They’ve” and “Every nation” at the beginning or end of successive clauses, the rhythm intensifies the development of passion, tension, and mood throughout the speech. In return, this stokes energy and enthusiasm towards the audience, ultimately illuminating Malcolm’s expectations from the African American society. Subsequently, Malcolm is able to successively develop the purpose of the speech, as the audience is trapped into the decision making of group dynamics.
Furthermore, it is important to note that Malcolm uses African American Vernacular English (AAVE) to further stress and express the roots of “black nationalism.” This includes diction such as unmarked third person singular verbs in the sentence “you not thinking Black.” As well as verb alteration, such as “you gotta sit” and “how you gonna tell me.” Significantly, Malcolm applies AAVE grammar throughout his speech to appeal to his target audience, but also to further reinforce African American equality movements against white supremacy, hegemonic ruling classes, and alterity.
Another significant rhetorical strategy that Malcolm employs in the second paragraphs is the appeal of ethos in which Malcolm states “They try and make you think they set you free by calling you a second-class citizen. No, you’re nothing but a 20th century slave,” and “he tricked you.” This is an example of a fear persuasion technique, in which Malcolm stokes the fear to be neglected and fooled by society. This also appeals to the group dynamics and extrapolation persuasive techniques, leading the audience to support Malcolm’s cause as their emotions are discouraged through the potent atmosphere. In Malcolm’s fourth paragraph, he intensifies this emotion by providing a simple solution of uniting together as a society. As Malcolm oversimplifies the complex relationship between the government through the use of meiosis, the audience is urged to unite together wholly. By comparing the black community’s “explosive” character to the “atomic bombs” of the Russians, Malcolm illustrates the potential of the black community through uniting. Through demonstrating this confidence to the audience, Malcolm balances and reinforces these emotions to translate into inspiration and the emotion of feeling responsible for voicing their rights. He then provides the audience to the decision making between the ballot or the bullet, which is a metaphor for liberty or death. This further relates to the purpose of the text, as it automatically instills fear to the audience leading them to acknowledge the importance of voting. To conclude, Malcolm demonstrates a wide variety of rhetorical devices to appeal to pathos, ethos, and logos to testify the purpose of urgent action towards his audience.
In regards to the structure of the political speech, Malcolm employs a critical balance between content to achieve his purpose. As aforementioned in the analysis of the content of the extract, Malcolm illustrates logos and ethos through linking historical context to emotion to call for action. Subsequently, Malcolm achieves this through developing the movement of action by paralleling it to the history of African Americans. Through the reference to events such as the “March on Washington” and gospel quotes such as “we shall overcome,” Malcolm is able to appeal and develop the sense of urgency towards his cause directly on an individual level.
Finally, Malcolm employed a variety of rhetorical devices and structural conventions to appeal to his community in his urge for constitutional changes regarding African American equality, hegemonic power, and alterity. All in all, it is critical to consider the political speech The Ballot or the Bullet through a larger lens to broaden knowledge regarding its deep roots in Black culture. Perhaps, the decision between the ballot and the bullet may just be as relevant today as it was during the Civil Rights Movement during the 19th century.
