Afro-Americans or Black people?

The lives of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are the embodiments of the black liberation struggle. Their different approaches towards the rights movement were also shaped by their understanding of black presence in America. This blog also draws a comparative analysis of how the difference in perception of America in relation to its dwellers i.e. the black and the white people shaped MLK and Malcolm’s approaches towards the black movement. On the one hand, MLK saw America as the historical outcome of a land where two different races lived together. On the other hand, Malcolm saw America as the land made livable by the white people through the labor of black people. So, this land was not the home of the latter forcefully brought here and liberation lied in finding a home for them by going back to their ancestral lands. If not, a piece of land in America proportional to the ratio of the black population with the overall population would be an alternate solution. These contrasting views, in turn, shaped their politics of liberation.

Throughout his life, MLK kept on advocating for the integration of black people with the white race. His conception of liberation premised on the idea of black assimilation with the white people in every aspect of life. From ‘removal of racial signs’ to nondiscriminatory behavior in public places, he always wanted to bring his people at par with their white counterparts, as equal citizens of America. This is why his method was constitutional in nature and the black question was grounded in legal terms. He condemned the action against Birmingham protest as an attempt to ‘deny citizens the First Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and peaceful protest’. The black people had to be made part of the American political system; a system that granted rights to every citizen irrespective of their race. For MLK, the state action to stop the protest ‘preserved segregation’ was against the claims of equality. MLK treated the black question as a national concern. By separating it from Africa and the rest of the black world, he made the case for a stigmatized minority of America. This also comes from the fact that for him, the present moment was important more than the past. The historical fact of slavery did not matter much in the present political scenario. Though the present condition of the black people was a historical outcome, the question of their dignity was now more of a political question inseparable from the democratic system of America.

Malcolm, on the other hand, was still stuck in the history of slavery. He could not remove the black question from the oppressive, plantation history of four hundred years. For him, blacks were forcefully made part of the American soil and they did not belong here. The struggle for their rights transcended American politics and instead dated back to slavery. He traced his roots back to the land from where the entire episode of slavery started. An honorable status in American society could not redeem the black race, because the history of oppression was more than deprivation of rights. One can understand why he criticized MLK’s approach because it asked for status within the American society as Afro-Americans, whereas Malcolm wanted to dissociate his people once and for all from the white people. This is also why unlike MLK’s demand for civil rights which called for a space in the existing system, he instead demanded black rights. Their recognition in the existing system through civil rights could not compensate for the atrocities of centuries. This was because integration could not go a long way enough to make black people as honorable citizens. They could be treated as legitimate citizens but their status would always be subjected to hierarchy and prejudice. This apprehension gave rise to the radical thought of either sending the blacks back to their lands or granting them a separate land within America, the true manifestation of black rights.

The black radical tradition apparently seems to be shaped by individual temperaments and their hatred for the white people were also affected by how they situated their people in the overall American society. Their conception of history and American politics made them locate their position in society and consequently, the decision to whether opt for integration or separation–whether to stay non-violent or to act offensively.