A hero denotes an individual who was, and still venerated not only for his/her courage, but also for the outstanding and achievements they contributed to the society at large. Without a shadow of doubt, Malcom X and Martin Luther King fits those brackets. It is from that rationale that this paper will be endeavor at comparing and contrasting the two mentioned heroes. That would be attained through the deliberation of their background as well as the circumstances that enabled them to be termed as heroes to-date. Their impacts to the society would be deliberated.
Malcom X, also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was an African-American Muslim minister as well as a human rights activist. He was born to a family of eight brothers and sisters in 1925 at Omaha to Louise Norton Little and Earl Little. It was without a doubt, activism was in the family's nature since his father, Earl, was a vivid supporter of the Black Nationalist that was under threats from the Black Legion. That resulted to their house being burned not forgetting to mention that his dad, Earl, being murdered owing to his stand. That resulted to Malcom X and his siblings to split to different foster homes (Benson & Cosgrove, 2005). At the tender age, he was arrested and sentenced for ten years in prison although he only served seven before being released. Thanks to his brother, Reginald, Malcom was converted to the Muslim religion and finally joining the Nation of Islam NOI. As a result of the NOI teachings, he opted to change his name from Little since he considered it a slave name and opted for X. He was later to become a spokesperson of the organization passing the organization's ideologies through various means such as Newspapers, Radio, and Television. Thanks to his captivation and ambition, the organization was able to get more followers (Tyler & Reid, 2004). However, his relationship with Muhammad who was considered a prophet resulted to the formation of the Muslim Mosque. That resulted to bad blood between him and Muhammad as well as the government. Such was the motive of his assassination in 1965 although it had failed several times. He died from bullets lacerations shot from a close range by the cohorts of the NOI that he had denounced for various reasons (Marable, 1995).
Comparatively, Martin Luther was as well a hero on his rights. He was born as Michael King on 1929 to Reverend Martin Luther King. He was noted as best pupil in public speaking at a tender age something that enabled him to be the youngest assistant manager of a newspaper delivery station at the age of thirteen. He went on to gain his doctoral studies. In addition, he was a Christian minister mainly as a preacher of the Gospel (DeCaro, 1996). On the lines of activism, he opted for a non-violence resistance based on and inspired by Mahatma Gandhi with an objective of ensuring that their concerns were heard by the government. Although "I have a Dream" speech was, and still is the most remembered contribution of Martin King. It is worth mentioning that he led various non-violence rallies where he denounced the ill-treatments that the African-Americans were forced to undergo (Marable, 1995).
There are several reasons why they are considered heroes to-date. For instance, they were both on record to have pressed for the concerns of their fellow African-Americans. That was through the pushing for equal rights and integration for the blacks. Evidently, they were both on the same page on the notion that the discrimination of individuals based on their race was the ultimate dehumanization at the moment (Smallwood, 200).
Both Malcom X and Martin Luther King has significant impacts in society. By illustration, Malcom upheld and supported nationalist and separatist ideologies where a revolution along with force would result to the African-Americans getting the equality that were hoping to exist. On the other hand, Martin King held that it was only through non-violence demonstrations that would result to the equal treatments they were hoping. In other words, the objective of Martin was that all the people within a society ought to be allowed to interact despite their skin color (black or white. Worth noting herein furthermore was their powerful-hard-hitting speeches that had a significant not only to the populace the, but also to all the populace within a society (Tyler & Reid, 2004).
As expounded exceeding, it would be deduced without a doubt, that both heroes deliberated herein both made significance contribution to the world. However, Martin Luther's contribution would be held to have resulted in more changes to the world. By example, the African-Americans were allowed to cast their votes. That was through the passing of the Civil Rights act of 1968 by the United States Congress that additionally prohibited the discriminations that were based on aspects of religion, race, and origin of nationality. Outside the United States, Martin is held to have inspired the Black Consciousness Movement, as well as the Civil Rights Movement in South Africa. Hence, it would be factual to hold that he, not Malcom X brought about major transformation to the world (Tyler & Reid, 2004).
References
Benson, M., & Cosgrove, M. (2005). Malcolm X. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications.
DeCaro, L. A. (1996). On the side of my people: A religious life of Malcolm X. New York: New York University Press.
Marable, M. (1995). Beyond Black and White: Transforming African-American politics. London: Verso.
Smallwood, A. P. (2001). An Afrocentric study of the intellectual development, leadership praxis, and pedagogy of Malcolm X. Lewiston, N.Y: E. Mellen Press.
Tyler, S. K., & Reid, G. (2004). Revise for religious studies GCSE: For Edexcel : religion and life. Oxford: Heinemann Educational.
