A Renegade Revolutionist

I was intrigued when Professor Wexler mentioned the great speakers of the United States. He mentioned people like Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy, who are fantastic speakers in their own right. However, often times Malcolm X is overlooked because of his rebellious concepts to gaining social equality. To pacifist, Malcolm X was a rebel, but to a lot of people he is considered to be a liberator of the oppressed.

A Renegade Revolutionist

When one is considering great speakers of the United States, a person thinks about orators like Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. They speak from the heart and had a deep concern of the people. Their topics often revolved around peace and unity. Lincoln and Kennedy spoke of solidarity during the two of the monumental times in history the civil war and the civil rights movement respectively. Many people categorize these great speakers because they spoke about peace. However, a profound speaker such as Malcolm X is often looked over because he spoke about fighting back. He took America’s discriminating ways and exposed it to the country. Malcolm X, like most of his predecessors before him spoke with what Aristotle described as rhetoric. With his own method of obtaining equality, he became a renegade revolutionist.
As an eminent speaker of the civil rights movement, Malcolm X transpired the three aspects Aristotle believed made an influential speaker: ethos, logos and pathos. In this particular clip we see Malcolm X illustrating the three aspects Aristotle speaks of. The clip takes place on March 29, 1964 in Washington Heights. From the beginning of the clip Malcolm X has already established ethos with his audience. He connects with his audience by using plural pronouns such as ‘we’ and ‘us’, which unifies himself with the people in the room. He specifically used words as such to create a sense of community. Later on in his speech he goes on to speak about the oppressed labor that they as black Americans have invested in. He uses the phrase “mine and your contribution to the economy” to present a unified presence. Many of the people listening to Malcolm X
speak that night know him as a human rights activist. He had already credibility within the community.
Aristotle’s second concept to a dignified orator is logos. Through logos the “…speaker represents logic or financial evidence (Olmsted 24). At 1:30 into the clip, Malcolm X begins to talk about how nationalism has freed other countries around the world. His knowledge of history is impressive and uses the success stories of other countries like Uganda and Somalia to show the people that equality can be obtained. Malcolm X uses logical appeal to get his crowd excited for a revolution or a change that is imperative. His renegade points of views is what disconnected himself from another renowned speaker of the same time, Martin Luther King Jr. He decided to break from the established systems that kept prejudice as its norm.
Pathos is the last of Aristotle’s ideology of a great speaker. After the speech the audience is moved and therefore motivated to take action. Malcolm X speaks with much emotion. As you’re listening to his speech, you can feel his pain of which he speaks from. The speech in Washington Heights attributes to this last notion of rhetoric. Malcolm X leaves his audience with these powerful words “…You don’t need a debate. You don’t need a filibuster. You need some action!”