The Ballot or the Bullet by Malcolm X

The provided text was an extract from “The Ballot or the Bullet”; of which was a speech delivered by Malcolm X on the third of April in 1964, and has since then become one of the most empowering speeches in American history. Thousands of people turned up to hear the activist Malcolm X present, what can be identified as a political speech as it exemplifies the use of rhetorical devices, figurative techniques such as alliteration, analogies and more, references to real world events, as well as appeals to particular needs. The aforementioned conventions of the political speech were heavily utilised by Malcolm X, which to evoke a sense of urgency in his audience and to call them to action in order to reclaim civil rights.

When this speech was given, it mainly targeted African Americans. However, it is multivocal as it somewhat targets the American Political system as well; this speech embodied the activists’ urgency in cultivating his audience and promoting black nationalism, as Malcolm X was a black civil rights activist who had significant influence during the civil rights movement in the mid 20th century. At the time African Americans were limited to making their own decisions on who to vote for due to the impositions and forcefulness that the white politicians projected towards black neighbourhoods in America.  It can be deduced from the speech’s subject of black nationalism that this speech calls for its audience to take a step and fight for their rights and to do so by voting for whom they deemed most supportive of their rights in the United States election.

Furthermore, it is evident in the use of the slogan "The Ballot or the Bullet" as it articulates the purpose. The slogan discusses liberty; to either be free or to die trying. The purpose of the text is introduced evidently at the beginning of the extract, "Black nationalism is a self-help philosophy",  in which is then emphasised in the subsequent sentences. The emphasis is conducted through the use of Anaphora, " You can...You can...You can" by which is used to elucidate the inclusivity that black Americans are provided when it comes to black nationalism. After that, the importance of Black nationalism is further re-instated, "if you are black and you not thinking black at this late date, well I'm sorry for you." in which creates a bandwagon appeal towards the audience of black Americans. This is done to evoke the members of the viewers, that may not be vocal activists that are actively fighting for their rights, to feel left out and old-fashioned. Thus making them feel the need to become a better influencer in this civil rights movement by voting for who is the best option for them; which aforementioned is one of the major subjects that Malcolm X is trying to persuade his audience in doing. After that, the speaker goes on to further illustrate the ease of his ideologies through the use of anadiplosis in the statement, "Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behaviour pattern, and then you go on into some action." In contrast to his earlier use of a bandwagon appeal, Malcolm X now directs his audience through clear steps that should be taken, using repetition is used to ensure that what was said is memorable and has resonance on the targeted viewers.

Aforementioned, this remarkable speech had left many of its audience members affected and called them to action by motivating them. An intrinsic part of why this speech was so successful is due to how Malcolm X uses the contextual properties of the issue on hand to help drive the purpose throughout the speech. Which can be seen in the second paragraph as it begins with a logos rhetoric by which the speech giver is referencing real world events in order provide validation and enlighten his audience by allowing them to see that his goal is achievable. "people in Africa and Asia are getting their independence." Malcolm X counteracts his earlier statement by providing the audience with his opinion as to why their actions of public marches would not gain them independence."They're not getting it by singing 'We Shall Overcome'" but instead makes a foil statement, in which he brings up measures that are the opposite of his resolutions to emphasise the effectivity of his resolutions. The author here is allowing the audience to follow along with him by connecting themselves through popular culture references such as the prior statement. The use of popular cultural knowledge is utilised once again later in the same paragraph where Malcolm X compares "Second class citizenship" to "20th-century slavery."  This comparison is made through the use of anaphora from lines 28-30 that help explain how Americans although not literal colonisers but are in fact a "hypocritical colonial power". Which Malcolm X then makes a swift transition into a hypophora to clarify his prior statement, "What do you call second-class citizenship? Why, that's colonisation." In the last paragraph the author makes another popular culture reference in which he alludes to “Uncle Tom”, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s character, to emphasise and explain their awareness of their own lower-class status due to their race. The combination of all of these literary devices is used to lead his audience along with his ideologies, simplifying it into a step-like process to quickly persuade the audience into buying into his claims, in which he finishes with a hypophora to finalise through a sense of objective.

Previously established in the context of the speech, the themes vacillate throughout, where the major themes of the subject are repeatedly referenced, those themes being: Black nationalism, colonialism, and change. Which are all exemplified through Malcolm X’s use of literary devices that both enhance the themes and consolidate them. Such as his use of epiphora from lines 15-18, repeating the word “sit” in different instances to compare the audience’s in which do not vocalise their activism to elders, chumps, and other in hopes to elicit actions from his audience. Which is used as a persuasive strategy to call his targeted audience to action and thus utilising literary devices to develop his themes in order to drive his purpose throughout the text.

As this was a persuasive political speech, the speech giver demonstrated an informative, instructional register in his tone. This is evident in his recurring use of the logos rhetoric that implements both statistics and historical references “The freedom of 22 million Afro-Americans here in this country… for the past  400 years”. Such references are put into practice in order to validate his clauses and calls to action. Moreover, this speech is proposing to a variety of black Americans, at a time where the ethnic group weren’t all granted adequate education. Meaning that the use of the abovementioned popular culture tropes is done to resonate with the audience and calls to informing the audience through both scholarly back-ups as well as cultural references to keep all of the members of the audience in the loop. This approach leads the audience to an influential state, one in which allows them to feel liberated as someone is finally fighting for their best interest, furthermore the audience are enabled to access an enlightening.  Moreover, the audience is told their situation bluntly and brutally, “He made a chump out of you. He made a fool out of you. He made you think you were going somewhere and you end going nowhere but between Lincoln and Washington.” This statement is told using anaphora to appeal to the audience’s need to aggress; Malcolm X believed that if the government continues to block full African American equality, then violence might become necessary. This all works towards setting an imperative mood, where the audience is advised. Malcolm X’s didactic approach to his speech through the use of statistics and cultural/historical references informs his purpose of influencing the audience to make the right decisions.

The stylistic use of repetition, rhetoric, persuasive appeals, statistics and other persuasive advances, which were previously mentioned, are used to progress the structure. An arrangement in which drives the speech’s purpose throughout explicit paragraphs. Such stylistic choices drive audiences to take action in order to demand equal African American rights. The structure of this text follows traditional political and persuasive speech conventions.

In order to appreciate this speech's effectivity, one must understand all the various kinds of devices used to prosecute this text. The major reason as to why The Ballot or the Bullet has become one of the strongest examples of a political speech is due to the Malcolm X’s efficient stylistic choices. This political speech exemplifies the use of rhetorical devices, figurative techniques such as alliteration, analogies and more, making references to real world events, as well as appealing to its audience's needs. The abovementioned conventions of the political speech were greatly employed by Malcolm X, in order to evoke a sense of urgency in his audience and eventually call them to action in order to gain equal rights.