Rhetorical Analysis on Malcolm X

When you teach a man to hate his lips, the lips that God gave him, the shape of the nose that God gave him, the texture of the hair that God gave him, the color of the skin that God gave him, you've committed the worst crime that a race of people can commit. And this is the crime that you've committed.

- Malcolm X, Our Hair! (http://www.endarkenment.com/hair/essays/malcolm/index.htm)

Racial prejudice is an insidious moral and social disease affecting peoples and populations all over the world. The outbreak hysteria of racism occurred in mid-twentieth century, targeting African-Americans mostly. Institutionalized racial segregation was ended as an official practice by the efforts of civil rights activists such as Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and El-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz, known as Malcolm X.

Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 while giving a speech, Our Hair!. He was a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. In the speech, Our Hair!, Malcolm X accused white Americans for making black people hate themselves for what they have; big noses, shape of lips, color of their skin, and texture of their hair. I, like Malcolm X, believe in the use of violence when it is necessary to shape the society.

In the speech, Malcolm X referred and, then, insulted American’s comments about the Congolese “cannibals” holding the white hostages. Malcolm structurally supported his opinions about inferior minds of white Americans. As Malcolm X notes, Americans didn’t give any shit about thousands of black people dying from the bombings in Congo, until they panicked about the white people being held as hostages. Malcolm X created a bridge to connect two facts into a forcible statement by telling the audience about the hidden image of Congolese’s war maneuvers. They just held white hostages to warn the pilots that they would kill their own white people if they kept bombing. Throughout the speech, Malcolm X’s feelings and tone were heavily implied to all of hearers.

Malcolm X’s piked coherence and constructive transition method were used greatly to connect between the black people’s actions and white people’s responses. Malcolm X noted,

“You still see the result of it among our people in this country today. Because we hated our African blood, we felt inadequate, we felt inferior, we felt helpless. And in our state of helplessness, we wouldn't work for ourselves. We turned to you for help, and then you wouldn't help us. We didn't feel adequate. We turned to your for advice and you gave us the wrong advice. Turned to you for direction and you kept us going in circles.”

The statement above, in my opinion, is the climax of the entire speech to remind the readers that even the tiniest amount of ignorance will eventually sum into the colossal neglect of justice. Malcolm X didn’t leave any messages in the end to make us think, instead, he just heavily criticized how inglorious bastards Americans are for making black people believing in for what they hate. I notice that Malcolm X gave the audience no flexibility because Malcolm X used only logos to appeal the audience’s emotions. Once the audience is given with only facts and reasons, there is no way audience could shape or bend the facts. Nevertheless, Malcolm X’s rigid and blunt statements awakened the world with the unheard comments from a minority.

In the conclusion, Malcolm X was assassinated because his comments disputed many of the opposed-viewers with broad non-pacifist statements. I can’t say that his argument in the speech was effective to all of us, only those people who believe in him. Malcolm X had given us with a choice, which is to raise our hands to the power or to let the society imprison the minority of black people because of the color of their skin or the texture of their hair?