Black History Certainly, This Early Essay

When attacked, they must defend by any means which an ordinary human being would find morally justifiable. This is why his ideas were so broad based and encompassed all blacks. He believed not just in their education and self-defense, but that they become self sufficient and not dependent upon whites. This was initially through the agencies of the Nation of Islam ("Malcolm x biography," 2011).

His ideas certainly changed over time. At first, he favored an Afrocentric viewpoint calling for black power through the nation of Islam. However, after his trip to Mecca, Malcolm X started to preach a universal message because he saw peoples of all colors at Mecca. He participated in demonstrations and boycotts and attempted to organize the black community economically. When he broke with Elijah Muhammad, he formed his own organization. The criticism of Malcolm X was not just due to his radicalism, but due to Afrocentrism (ibid.).

Question#5 Why do you think many people assume African-Americans are united on all issues?

This author really hates to be crass, but let us say frankly that many people feel that African-Americans on united on all issues is because they all fit the description. Certainly, no one is immune from believing stereotypes. However, as one of the most visible minorities in America, one has to ask why this is the case. Indeed, this has never been the case. By the time of the 1980s and 1990s, these differences were extremely pronounced and affected the ability of blacks to advance the welfare in general of black Americans.As pointed out in chapter 24 of our text, the 1980s brought a great conservative backlash against such programs as affirmative and reforms brought about by the Voting Rights act of 1965. This caused many black Americans to focus on a less decisive confrontational type of approach such as developing a race-conscious third party. Instead, they banked more and more on the Democratic Party. Fractures along class lines appeared as a growing black middle class invested their hopes in this effort. However, many of the black poor were left out as their ranks were filled as the urban poor were caught in the ghetto in the wake of the 1960's riots and the 1970s urban downturn. The shrinkage of help for poor blacks has polarize these two groups. This has happened before in black history as the talented tenth forgets the other ninety percent (Hine, Hine & Harrold,, 2011, 672-673).

References

Hine, D.C., Hine, W.C., & Harrold, S.C. (2011). The triumph of black politics from 1980 to present.

In The African-American Odyssey, Vol. 2 (pp. 672-694). New York, NY: Pearson.

Jones, C. (Performer) (2008). Clarence jones on martin luther king jr. [Television series episode]. In

Carson, C. (Executive Producer), African-American History. Stanford, CA: Stanord University.

Retrieved from http://academicearth.org/lectures/jones-martin-luther-king.

Malcolm x biography. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/malcolm-x-9396195......