Nathan Sanders 7th English 1010 11-5-13 Rhetorical analysis

Malcolm X: The Ballot or the Bullet Rhetorical Analysis

Its the height of the civil rights movement. Black leaders are fighting for support against racism and equal rights for colored people. White supremacist groups have been beating and murdering black southerners. Ku Klux Klan members have killed and attacked several black supporters. Malcolm X is disgusted and exhausted by the disgusting ways of America. He decides to create a group who is willing to stand up and fight for black rights. Malcolm unlike Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to take rights by force. In his speech, The Ballot or the Bullet, Malcolm seems to often make racial slurs towards whites. He calls out white man and honky and cracker several times when hes talking about how badly blacks are treated. He uses repetition to make his message clear. The ballot or the bullet is repeated over and over again throughout the speech. He tries to relate to his crowd by calling them brothers and sisters. One thing I saw that was extremely bad rhetoric is the part where he says Brothers, sisters, friends, and enemies: I just cant believe everyone in here is a friend, and I dont want to leave anybody out. There seems to be distrust , towards his crowd, in his choice of words. Using repetition and name calling Malcolm convinces others to join his fight for freedom and equality. When Malcolm mentions over and over again how bad honkies and white men are it convinces and reinforces listeners to believe that whites are just bad. He tries to make the audience have hurt feelings and resent toward whites before he goes on to talk about his plans

Nathan Sanders 7th English 1010 11-5-13 Rhetorical analysis

for freedom. This is the Name Calling logical fallacy. Hes assuming all whites are bad. Its colored people against whites. From the very start of Malcolms speech he repeats over and over again, the ballot or the bullet, the ballot or the bullet. He wants to put it into the heads of the crowd that fighting is what is going to end up happening. Hes trying to show that he wants freedom. Fighting is what he decides would be the quickest and most effective approach to freedom. Repetition makes viewers think hard about whats said. Hearing something enough makes it true. It becomes more than a thought but, it grows to concrete in your mind. The least effective part of this speech in my opinion is the part where Malcolm shows distrust in his audience. Instead of opening with a statement that shows unity with his crowd he opens with, I just cant believe everyone in here is a friend, and I dont want to leave a nyone out. This could show two things. One, distrust in the crowd or, two, hes trying to relate to blacks. Perhaps blacks feel like they cant trust anyone. Hes trying to relate, you cant trust whites. white politicians say they will give blacks equal rights but, it untrue. In my opinion this is a bad approach because the part of the crowd who hasnt made their decision, they automatically feel mistrust by Malcolm. Audience members mentally pull away from Malcolms ideas. Theyre less likely to join Malcolms because if they feel like their leader cant trust them. Malcolms speech is a dramatic speech given in one of the most turbulent times in American history. Blacks are killing whites. Whites are killing blacks. Some black leaders want to take a peaceful protest approach but, Malcolm decides a Bullet approach is better. To get more supporters on his side he calls out whites numerous times. He uses repetition on several

Nathan Sanders 7th English 1010 11-5-13 Rhetorical analysis

words and phrases to emphasize importance. He also uses racial slurs towards whites to show how bad of people the white man is.