Sociology

The civil rights movement in the United States was one of the significant events in the history of the nation for it was through struggle that the African-American community, and eventually other  minorities  were finally made equal in the eyes of the law and of society with the passing of successive civil rights laws during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.  But the road going there was not smooth.  Despite the end of the American Civil War where the blacks were emancipated, the attitude of the whites towards them, especially in the South, had not changed and this was evident with the practice of segregation and the Jim Crow Laws that sought to keep them in their place as second-class citizens of the United States and anyone who dared defy it stood to face persecution, whether legally or extrajudicially.

There were at least two men who dared challenge the status quo   Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm Little, who was better known as Malcolm X.  Both men dared speak out against the apparent injustice committed against them and though they fought the same cause, the way they sent out the message differed.  Malcolm X, in his provocative  Ballot or Bullet  speech, where he exposed a  conspiracy  in America that those so-called Southern Democrats were paying lip service to their plight but were  crackers  at heart.  He pushed the black community to get involved in voting in choosing worthy leaders and not to let apathy reign for it this were to go on, the inevitable option   revolution would ensue (Malcolm X).

King on the other hand, dared to take on the injustice through nonviolent means, taking a leaf from the passive resistance practice of Mahatma Gandhi.  He encouraged people to defy unjust laws.  Laws are made by men and just because they are legal does not absolutely mean they are morally correct.  But in defying injustice, King adhered to Gandhis approach in the willingness to suffer in order to make the persecutors see the evil within and when they realize it, will eventually quit (King, 1998, 190, 193-195).

There are similarities and differences between the two.  Malcolm X advocated black nationalism where he tried to encourage black to stand up for themselves for he felt the whites would never stand up for them.  King still had faith in America and he held fast to it.  He never gave up that dream which he openly announced in the march to Washington in 1963.  It is that dream that enabled Glenn Loury to live the life he enjoys today although he still harbors that consciousness that he, as well as his children, is black.  In his essay, it is apparent Loury subscribes to Kings vision and ideas that they are Americans despite having a different skin color and not only that, they are Gods creation as well and nobody has the right to classify or categorize (by race) anything God has created to be equal (Loury).