Call for Change: #4

The #blacklivesmatter movement that has become a large force on many social media outlets lately, in the wake of the murder of many innocent African-Americans in the past few years, such as Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Mike Brown, and many more. Many comparisons can be drawn between Malcolm X’s movements and the Black Lives Matter movement, as done by various sources such as HuffingtonPost. One similarity is that neither of these are civil rights movements. There is too much legislative work to be done for civil rights movements, only furthering prolonging the problem. Malcolm X once said “Whenever you are in a civil-rights struggle, whether you know it or not, you are confining yourself to the jurisdiction of Uncle Sam. No one from the outside world can speak out in your behalf as long as your struggle is a civil-rights struggle. Civil rights means you’re asking Uncle Sam to treat you right. Human rights are something you were born with” (596). Malcolm X is essentially trying to say that people, regardless of their skin colour, are supposed to be treated fairly and that no group should have to fight for that. A similar problem is prevalent in the Black Lives Matter movement, as laws are not what is causing these problems anymore (because legally, no one race is to be seen as better or worse than any other). The problem lies in the toxic mentality that stems from superiority complexes, as often seen in American law enforcement. This is the reason for so many murder cases in America against blacks, as bias often overrides law. For example, Eric Garner was legally doing nothing wrong. There was no evidence to support that he was involved in any illegal activity, and even if there was, the action taken against him was not proportionate to his alleged crime (he was allegedly attempting to sell cigarettes on the property of a store, and was then choked to death by a military grip while being held to the ground by six law enforcement officers). The case was not investigated very thoroughly, and I, personally have seen a lot of backlash from many white people on various social media outlets. This goes to show that even though America has come closer to being a land of opportunity for more and more people of colour lately, many of the harsher and more negative realities still exist. Black people are still being killed, abused and stereotyped and it is not simply a legal problem like it was a century ago.

Another similarity to Malcom X’s movement in the media was the reign of gangster rap group, N.W.A. Known for their blunt and harsh singles meant to show the hardships that come with being black in America, such as “F*** Tha Police”, N.W.A share their personal experiences with racism and discrimination. In their biopic, “Straight Outta Compton”, the group is simply talking and eating outside of their studio, when several police officers (including black police officers) approach them and attempt to arrest them, simply for “looking suspicious”, despite not having done anything wrong. Despite it being illegal to racially discriminate against any ethnic group at the time, the authorities could and/or would have ignored the case, should the group have filed a report. This goes to show that even though progress has been made, there is not a large disparity between the issues then and now. Black people are still stereotyped and discriminated against for no real reason. N.W.A’s response was similar to that of Malcolm X in the violent stages of his movement because they believed in fighting back, not simply trying to co-operate to ensure their safety. On many instances, the group defied the law and purposely offended many people to make a statement, regardless of the cost. For example, the group was advised once by police not to perform the song “F*** Tha Police” live, or they would be arrested. Regardless, they still performed the song and they were arrested after. The irony is that they were being arrested for exhibiting basic human rights, which was the whole reason why the song was written in the first place.

All in all, there are many connections that can be drawn between Malcolm X’s movement and modern-day movements, which is quite unfortunate. Both he and Martin Luther King Jr. would have a few things to be happy about; for example, America having a black president. However, there are still many problems that exist now to really be able to celebrate anything. Their movements helped to help black people feel empowered, but changed very little about how they were treated. Much work has yet to be done.